educmiom: 

.-■OF 

OURGIRLS; 

.SlilELDSl 


iliii' 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Class 


THE  EDUCATION    OF 
OUR  GIRLS 


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THE   EDUCATION 
OF  OUR  GIRLS 


By 

Thomas  Edward  Shields,  Ph.D. 

Associate  Professor  of  Psychology  in 
the  Catholic  University  of  America. 
Author  of  ' '  The  Making  and  Un- 
making of  a  Dullard." 


New  York,  Cincinnati,  Chicago 

BENZIGER    BROTHERS 

PRINTERS  TO  THE  HOLY  APOSTOLIC  SEE 
1907 


Vltbil  ObBtat 

REMY  LAFORT, 

Censor  Ltbrorum. 


•ffrnprimatur* 

Hh  JOHN  M.  FARLEY, 

Archbishop  of  New  York. 
New  York,  October  10,  1907. 


Copyright,  1907,  by  Benziger  Brothers. 


TO 

THE  RIGHT  REVEREND 

DENNIS  JOSEPH    O'CONNELI 

RECTOR  OF  THE 

CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA 

IN   SINCERE  APPRECIATION 

OF   HIS    EFFORTS    IN    BEHALF   OF 

OUR  CATHOLIC  SCHOOLS 


165144 


PREFACE 

The  problems  which  are  discussed  in  these 
pages  are  among  the  most  important  with 
which  the  educationist,  in  theory  and  in  prac- 
tice, is  called  to  deal.  While  it  is  universally 
acknowledged  that  the  education  of  women 
should  be  as  perfect  as  possible  and  should 
therefore  be  shaped  in  accordance  with  actual 
needs  and  based  on  the  most  improved  meth- 
ods, it  is  not  so  clear  just  how  this  education 
is  to  be  imparted  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  out 
in  their  full  value  and  beauty  the  special  en- 
dowments of  woman. 

Where  such  vital  interests  are  at  stake, 
variety  of  opinion  is  to  be  expected,  and  the 
most  helpful  means  of  reaching  a  final  solu- 
tion is  found  in  the  presentation  and  com- 
parison of  different  views.  Dr.  Shields  has 
done  this  in  a  pleasing  and  effectual  manner 
by  bringing  forward  in  his  book  typical  repre- 
sentatives of  opposite  schools  of  thought  con- 
cerning coeducation.     At  the  same  time  he 


S  Preface 

has  furnished  an  object  lesson  in  criticism  and 
discussion  which  can  not  but  prove  helpful  to 
the  individual  teacher  in  her  study  and  to 
those  gatherings  of  teachers  at  which  educa- 
tional problems  are  viewed  in  the  light  of  a 
larger  experience  and  reviewed  from  many 
standpoints. 

The  conclusion  reached  in  this  volume 
is  plainly  in  favor  of  the  higher  education  of 
women;  but  it  is  also  higher  education  for 
women.  In  keeping  with  the  principle  that 
all  education  must  consider  not  only  the 
knowledge  to  be  provided  but  also  and  pri- 
marily the  needs  and  capacity  of  the  develop- 
ing mind,  it  is  here  claimed  that  woman  can 
be  most  fully  and  most  naturally  educated 
only  in  a  school  or  college  for  women.  The 
alleged  advantages  of  coeducation  are  more 
than  outweighed  by  its  disadvantages.  As  is 
well  known,  serious  objection  has  been  urged 
by  recent  authorities  against  the  practice  of 
teaching  both  sexes  the  same  subjects  by  the 
same  methods  in  the  same  institution.  This 
argument  is  presented  here  in  a  manner  at 


Preface  9 

once  forceful  and  intelligible;  and  it  is 
strengthened  by  considerations  which  the 
Catholic  parent  and  teacher  will  be  the  first  to 
appreciate. 

This  verdict,  on  the  other  hand,  points 
clearly  to  certain  practical  aspects  of  our 
Catholic  educational  system.  If  it  is  desirable 
that  our  girls  should  be  educated  in  schools 
specially  adapted  to  their  needs  and  to  their 
social  functions  in  life,  it  is  equally  desirable 
and  necessary  that  these  schools  should  be 
properly  equipped  for  what  they  undertake. 
In  other  words,  the  most  telling  argument 
against  coeducation  must  be  found  in  the  work 
done  by  schools  exclusively  for  women.  The 
superiority  of  such  work  is  to  be  secured  not 
so  much  by  enriching  the  course  of  study  and 
adding  attractions  of  minor  importance  as  by 
preparing  the  teachers  for  their  task.  It  is  no 
doubt  a  praiseworthy  thing  in  any  teacher  that 
she  should  select  as  an  occupation  the  train- 
ing of  other  minds,  even  though  the  necessity 
of  earning  a  livelihood  and  the  prospect  of 
a  more  advantageous  situation  later  on  should 


lo  Preface 

be  of  prime  importance  to  her.  But  quite  be- 
yond these  motives  is  that  which  inspires  the 
woman  who  takes  up  teaching  as  a  religious 
duty  to  which  her  whole  life  is  consecrated. 
No  better  lesson  in  unselfish  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  truth  can  be  given  than  that  which 
we  find  in  our  Catholic  teaching  communities. 
This  accounts,  I  am  convinced,  for  the  eager- 
ness with  which  the  sisterhoods  welcome  each 
suggestion  that  holds  out  the  promise  of  help- 
ing them  to  better  work.  And  it  explains,  in 
large  measure,  the  desire  of  Catholic  parents 
to  have  their  daughters  trained  by  religious 
teachers  wherever  such  training  is  available. 
The  simplest  justice,  no  less  than  educational 
wisdom,  requires  that  the  good-will  and  en- 
thusiasm of  our  teachers  should  be  recognized 
by  those  who  are  charged  with  the  work  of 
Catholic  higher  education ;  and  it  is  therefore 
gratifying  to  note  that  this  recognition,  in  a 
very  helpful  form,  comes  from  a  professor  in 
the  Catholic  University,  and  from  one  who  Is 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  needs  and 
possibilities  of  our  schools.    As  this  volume  is 


Preface  1 1 

a  proof  of  the  interest  which  Is  taken  at  the 
University  in  all  the  departments  of  our  edu- 
cational system,  it  will  doubtless  turn  the 
minds  of  our  teachers  toward  the  University 
as  a  source  of  information  and  direction.  By 
similar  means  and  in  view  of  similar  condi- 
tions, some  of  the  Catholic  centers  of  learn- 
ing in  Europe  have  drawn  into  closer  contact 
with  their  university  work  the  Religious  who 
devote  themselves  to  the  education  of  women. 
The  excellent  results  which  are  thus  attained 
are  visible  in  the  growing  efficiency  of  Catho- 
lic schools.  Indeed,  it  is  becoming  more  and 
more  evident  that  women  with  a  religious 
vocation  and  the  scientific  training  which  only 
the  University  can  give,  are  the  ideal  teachers 
for  our  Catholic  girls. 

Toward  such  an  ideal  with  its  opportunities 
of  earnest  and  effectual  work  in  the  cause  of 
religion,  the  hearts  of  Catholic  young  women 
impulsively  turn.  The  more  completely  that 
ideal  is  realized  by  our  teaching  communities, 
the  brighter  will  be  their  prospect  of  securing 
cooperators  in  their  work.     The  Divine  call- 


12  Preface 

ing  to  a  life  which  means  so  much  for  the 
welfare  of  souls  will  be  heard  more  clearly 
and  followed  more  promptly.  To  the  faith- 
ful teachers  who  are  now  striving  for  the  bet- 
terment of  their  schools  and  to  those  Catholic 
young  women  who  are  seeking  the  path  which 
the  Master  would  have  them  pursue,  I  ear- 
nestly recommend  this  book,  its  reasoned-out 
conclusions  and  its  useful  suggestions. 

J.  Card.  Gibbons. 


Contents 


PAGE 

I     Raising  an  Issue    .         .         •     17 
II     Some  Psychical  Sex  Charac- 
teristics     .         .         .  '33 

III  The  Grading  of  School  Chil- 

dren     52 

IV  Coeducation  and  Marriage  .     67 
V     Symmetry   in  the    Cultural 

Development  of  the  Sexes     81 
VI     Man    and    Woman    Allies — 

NOT  Competitors  .         .   102 

VII     The  Social  Claim  .         .125 

VIII     The  Social  Claim  versus  The 

Family  Claim     .         .         •   ^57 
IX     The  Vocations  of  Woman      .   186 
X     Domestic  Science  .         .  .213 

XI     The  Woman's  College  of  the 

Future        .         .         .         .251 
XII     The     Homemakers     of     the 

Future        .         .         .         ,  276 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  OUR  GIRLS 

DISCUSSED  BT 

Rev.   Edwin  Studevan,   Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Pedagogy  in  the  University  of  A — 

Philip  Shannon,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Sociology  in  the  University  of  A — 

Miles  O'Brien,   M.A. 

Writer    on    Economics,     ex- Professor    of    Political 
Economy  in  a  Western  university. 

Miss  Ruth,   M.A.    ('88)  College  of  St.  Lioba, 
Principal  of  Normal  School. 

Miss  Geddes,  A.B,  ('89)  University  of  Michigan, 

(co-ed,     suspected     of     an    interest    in    Professor 
Shannon) , 

Mr.    Eaton 

A  wealthy  business  man    with    limited    education, 

Mrs.  O'Brien 

The  mother  of  five  children. 

Scene — Dunbarton  Hall 


OF  THE 


CHAPTER  I 

Raising  an  Issue 

My  thirty  winters  in  Minnesota  had  hardly 
prepared  me  for  the  trip  to  Chevy  Chase  last 
night.  The  underground  trolley  has  its  disad- 
vantages after  all.  A  light  snow,  that  would 
not  have  affected  travel  in  the  Twin  Cities, 
made  progress  through  the  Capital  City  a 
slow  and  difficult  task.  Even  slight  grades 
were  rendered  formidable  by  a  lack  of  sand. 
The  journey  seemed  interminable.  The  cars 
were  not  heated  for  zero  weather,  and  when 
at  last  I  rang  the  bell  at  Dunbarton  Hall  I  was 
chilled  to  the  very  marrow  of  my  bones.  I  was 
quite  prepared  to  find  the  O'Briens  alone, 
feeling  that  the  weather  which  tried  me  so 
severely,  in  spite  of  my  northern  experience, 
would  be  sufficient  to  keep  the  other  guests 
at  home  and  I  was  agreeably  surprised,  there- 
fore, on  entering  the  library,  to  find  a  group 
of  friends  already  assembled  around  the  glow- 


1 8     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

ing  grate.  My  arrival  had  evidently  Inter- 
rupted Miss  Geddes  in  the  midst  of  one  of 
her  tirades,  for  I  had  hardly  got  my  toes  up  to 
the  fender  when,  without  urging  from  any 
one,  she  took  up  the  thread  of  her  interrupted 
discourse. 

**As  I  was  just  saying,  the  whole  movement 
for  segregation  is  but  another  evidence  of  the 
rawness  of  Chicago  exhibiting  itself  through 
its  university.  It  is  a  recrudescence  of  the  old 
barbaric  instinct  in  man  that  has  kept  woman 
in  bondage  for  thousands  of  years.  Man  has 
always  shown  himself  impatient  of  every  at- 
tempt made  by  woman  to  gain  her  rights.  He 
grants  suffrage  to  the  illiterate,  to  the  ex-con- 
vict, to  the  negro,  and  to  the  hordes  of  immi- 
grants from  Russia  and  southern  Europe. 
The  Italian  and  the  Slav,  who  know  nothing 
of  our  language  or  of  our  institutions,  and 
care  less  for  them,  are  privileged  to  vote  or  to 
sell  their  votes  to  those  who  wish  to  buy ;  but 
woman  must  not  be  given  the  ballot  lest  by  its 
use  she  might  gain  her  freedom!  And  now, 
when  she  is  beginning  to  get  an  education  that 


Raising  an  Issue  19 

will  equip  her  to  gain  an  independent  liveli- 
hood and  to  meet  man  in  the  economic  world 
on  equal  terms,  he  is  at  once  alarmed  and  cries 
out  for  segregation! 

**That  he  considers  woman  less  fit  than  him- 
self to  pursue  the  regular  curriculum  of  the 
university  is  too  absurd!  Woman  is  by  na- 
ture more  susceptible  of  culture  than  man ;  her 
instincts  are  finer,  her  sympathies  are  broader ; 
and,  as  for  her  intelligence,  why,  it  is  admitted 
by  all  those  who  are  in  a  position  to  know  that 
whenever  she  is  given  an  equal  opportunity  she 
profits  by  it  better  than  man!  She  is  more 
studious  and  spends  the  time  in  reading  and 
study  that  he  spends  on  the  ball  field,  or  in  his 
club,  at  the  gambling  table  or  over  his  cups. 
And  then,  besides,  where  else  does  man  get 
what  little  intelligence  he  has  except  from  his 
mother?'' 

The  challenge  was  evidently  leveled  at 
Professor  Shannon,  who  sat  through  it  all 
with  a  perfectly  blank  face.  I  was  wondering, 
as  I  think  the  others  were,  how  he  would  meet 
it.    The  silence  was  beginning  to  be  painful 


20     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

when  he  turned  with  a  quiet  smile  to  Dr. 
Studevan. 

'*I  say,  Studevan,  this  seems  to  be  up  to  you. 
The  whole  question  of  woman's  suffrage  and 
of  woman's  rights  resolves  itself  in  last  analy- 
sis into  a  problem  of  pedagogy.  Shall  we 
have  coeducation  or  segregation?  that  is  the 
question'' — **that  doth  make  cowards  of  us 
all,"  added  Mr.  O'Brien. 

**No,  Shannon,"  said  Dr.  Studevan  seri- 
ously, *^this  is  really  a  question  of  sociology 
rather  than  of  pedagogy.  These  things  are 
never  settled  by  the  promulgation  of  a  priori 
principles  or  of  scientific  deductions.  It  is  the 
struggle  for  existence  and  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  in  the  social  world,  don't  you  know. 
These  great  fundamental  forces  will  work  out 
the  solution  in  due  time  and  then  some  of  you 
brilliant  sociologists  will  appear  on  the  scene 
and  make  a  reputation  for  originality  by  pro- 
mulgating to  the  world  what  it  shall  have 
already  discovered  for  itself." 

'*0h,  come  now,"  replied  Professor  Shan- 
non, '*you  are  just  trying  to  crawl  out  of  a 


Raising  an  Issue  21 

difficulty:  Miss  Geddes  has  taken  issue  with 
views  that  you  have  often  expressed  where 
woman  could  not  defend  herself." 

**Doctor,"  said  Miss  Ruth,  *^you  surely 
would  not  be  guilty  of  such  an  anachronism  as 
that  involved  in  upholding  in  the  beginning 
of  the  twentieth  century  the  traditional  infe- 
riority of  woman's  intellect.  Until  recent 
years  woman  has  had  no  opportunity  to  show 
her  ability  in  the  field  of  higher  education.  It 
is  said,  of  course,  that  she  lacks  initiative  and 
self-reliance,  but  how  could  we  expect  this  to 
be  otherwise  when  we  consider  the  treatment 
she  has  received  through  so  many  genera- 
tions?'' 

"I  don't  expect  it  to  be  otherwise.  Miss 
Ruth ;  we  are  all  largely  what  the  environment 
of  our  ancestors  has  made  us.  However, 
history  does  not  reveal  woman  to  us  in  un- 
broken captivity:  whenever  her  ability  justi- 
fied it,  we  find  her  governing  man  and  leading 
him  into  new  conquests,  but  the  number  of 
such  women  has  been  discouragingly  small." 

"These  were  the  few,"  replied  Miss  Ruth, 


2  2     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

**who  rose  above  all  difficulties  and  made  op- 
portunity. But  to  prove  her  ability  we  need 
not  turn  to  the  past  to  hunt  up  the  record  of 
the  occasional  woman  who  rose  to  great 
heights  in  the  intellectual  world;  even  in  the 
short  time  since  the  universities  have  opened 
their  doors  to  her  she  has  amply  proved  her 
capacity.  Just  this  afternoon  I  spent  a  de- 
lightful hour  with  'Little  Pilgrimages  Among 
Women  who  have  Written  Famous  Books.' 
The  catalogue  of  literary  celebrities  given  in 
that  little  book  is  of  course  very  incomplete, 
but  it  is  not  wanting  in  inspiration  to  women 
with  literary  aspirations  and  it  should  furnish 
food  for  thought  to  those  who  are  opposed  to 
the  higher  education  of  women. 

*'If  we  turn  from  the  field  of  literature  to 
the  technical  periodicals  that  record  the 
growth  of  the  various  sciences,  we  shall  find 
that  the  percentage  of  women's  names  in  the 
list  of  contributors  is  increasing  year  by  year. 
In  the  field  of  journalism,  too,  woman  is  win- 
ning for  herself  an  honorable  place  in  these 
latter  days,  and  although  she  has  but  recently. 


Raising  an  Issue  23 

entered  the  learned  professions,  there  are  at 
present  many  women  physicians  doing  excel- 
lent work,  nor  are  the  pulpit  and  the  bar  any 
longer  strangers  to  her  eloquence.  Although 
the  progressive  State  of  Illinois  has  not  yet 
seen  fit  to  grant  the  franchise  to  woman,  it 
would  not  be  easy  to  find  two  men  within  her 
borders  who  have  done  better  work  in  mu- 
nicipal reform  than  have  Margaret  Haley  and 
Catherine  Goggin.  The  statue  of  Frances 
Willard,  erected  by  the  State  of  Illinois,  in 
Statuary  Hall,  attests  its  appreciation  of  her 
work  in  social  reform. 

**Moreover,  it  is  in  your  own  field,  Doctor, 
that  women  are  particularly  distinguishing 
themselves.  Elementary  education  through- 
out the  country  has  practically  passed  into 
woman's  hands  and  she  is  appearing  in  ever- 
increasing  numbers  in  high  school  and  college 
faculties.  There  are  few  more  illuminating 
writers  on  present  educational  problems  than 
Ella  Flagg  Young.  But  why  proceed  further  ? 
In  the  face  of  such  facts  as  these  I  find  it 
difficult  to  understand  how  an  intelligent,  up- 


2t4    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

to-date  Professor  of  Pedagogy  can  oppose  the 
higher  education  of  women." 

'*But,  my  dear  Madam,  I  assure  you  if  you 
meant  all  that  for  me  you  are  wasting  your 
ammunition  on  an  empty  fort.  I  have  never 
consciously  been  in  the  ranks  of  those  who 
oppose  the  higher  education  of  woman.  Noth- 
ing, indeed,  could  be  further  from  my  thought. 
In  the  first  place  I  suspect  that  I  lack  the 
courage  to  oppose  anything  that  woman  might 
seriously  desire.  I  would  not,  you  know,  for 
anything  in  the  world  be  considered  ungal- 
lant.  But  seriously,  I  realize  the  full  force  of 
all  that  you  have  said  and  I  am  well  aware 
that  it  would  not  be  difficult  for  you  to  multi- 
ply arguments  in  support  of  the  position  you 
have  taken — if  it  needs  support.  It  is  evident 
that  woman  is  capable  of  higher  education, 
and  it  seems  to  me  equally  evident  that  she  is 
entitled  to  it.  My  opposition  is  not  at  all  to 
the  higher  education  of  woman,  but  to  co- 
education, which  I  had  supposed  to  be  the 
thesis  so  eloquently  defended  by  Miss 
Geddes." 


Raising  an  Issue  ^5 

"But,  Doctor,  Is  not  this  still  an  evasion? 
If  woman  Is  entitled  to  higher  education — to 
as  high  an  education  as  man — should  she  not 
take  her  place  side  by  side  with  him  in  the 
great  universities  of  our  country  ?*' 

'*No,  I  do  not  consider  It  an  evasion.  While 
I  most  cordially  agree  to  the  proposition  that 
there  Is  no  education  too  high  or  too  good  for 
woman,  I  am  not  at  all  convinced  that  she  can 
best  obtain  this  education  side  by  side  with 
man  in  the  great  universities  of  our  country. 
Coeducation  and  higher  education  are  two 
totally  different  questions,  and  the  Interests  of 
woman  no  less  than  the  Interests  of  truth  suf- 
fer by  confusing  them. 

**EducatIon  Implies  the  growth  and  devel- 
opment of  all  the  faculties  of  mind  and  heart, 
but  this  surely  does  not  mean  the  molding  of 
unlike  natures  Into  a  superficial  resemblance 
to  each  other.  The  higher  education  of 
woman  can  by  no  possibility  mean  the  molding 
of  her  mental  and  moral  life  into  the  likeness 
of  the  mental  and  moral  life  of  man.  Even 
if  this  end  were  desirable  it  does  not  follow 


26    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

that  it  could  be  attained  by  subjecting  man 
and  woman  to  the  same  discipline.  Person- 
ally, I  believe  neither  in  the  desirability  nor 
in  the  possibility  of  changing  woman  into 
man's  likeness — she  is  far  too  charming  as 
she  is. 

**I  find  the  advance  of  life  to  higher  planes 
everywhere  dependent  upon  differentiation  of 
structure  and  specialization  of  function.  A 
reversal  of  this  process  always  means  degen- 
eracy. I  see  no  reason  for  expecting  that  the 
laws  which  know  no  exception  throughout  all 
the  realms  of  life  should  be  reversed  on  the 
frontiers  of  the  mental  world.  I  am  not  led 
to  question  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator  by  the 
discovery  that  the  mind  and  character  of 
woman  and  of  man  are  as  different  from  each 
other  as  are  their  bodies.  I  think  we  shall 
find  that  the  present  high  level  of  civilization 
is  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  difference 
between  the  characters  of  man  and  woman. 
But  this  is  trenching  on  the  sociologist's  field. 

"The  Professor  seems  so  rapt  in  blissful 
contemplation  this  evening  that  it  would  be 


Raising  an  Issue  27 

cruel  to  ask  him  to  expound  to  us  his  views 
and  theories  on  the  subject.  However,  the 
truth  here  is  so  elementary  that  I  hardly  see 
how  any  of  us  can  fail  to  recognize  it.  What 
woman  in  her  senses  would  willingly  marry  a 
man  whose  mental  and  moral  life  was  built 
on  feminine  lines?  and  where  is  the  man 
amongst  us  who  would  not  gladly  remain  a 
bachelor  all  the  days  of  his  life  rather  than 
marry  a  masculine  woman?  The  fact  of  the 
matter  is  both  man  and  woman  are  incurably 
vain.  No  man's  happiness  is  complete  unless 
he  has  woman's  admiration  for  his  physical 
strength  or  for  his  intellectual  prowess;  nor 
is  a  woman's  cup  of  happiness  ever  full  with- 
out man's  appreciation  of  her  physical  charms. 
To  make  man  and  woman  alike,  to  give  them 
like  capacities,  like  needs  and  desires,  would 
not  only  render  them  unattractive  to  each 
other,  but  it  would  in  many  other  ways  cause 
the  wheels  of  progress  to  turn  backward. 
Man  and  woman  were  designed  by  nature  to 
be  the  complements  of  each  other,  not  the 
duplicates." 


28     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

**That  is  always  the  way  with  you  men," 
said  Miss  Geddes,  **you  would  keep  woman's 
intellect  dwarfed  that  she  might  look  up  to 
you  and  admire  you;  you  would  keep  her  so 
weak  that  she  must  cling  to  you  and  feed  your 
vanity;  you  would  deprive  her  of  an  education 
that  would  necessarily  give  her  her  independ- 
ence and  enable  her  to  see  through  your  shal- 
low pretenses  to  intellectuality." 

**Softly,  my  dear  Miss  Geddes,  softly.  I 
have  no  intention  of  apologizing  for  the  other 
gentlemen  present,  nor  any  wish  to  make  a 
statement  of  their  principles,  but  as  far  as  I 
am  concerned  I  wish  to  assure  you  that  the 
stronger  and  the  more  intellectual  and  the 
more  independent  woman  is,  the  better  I  like 
her.  However,  this  is  hardly  the  question 
under  discussion;  and,  moreover,  I  have  al- 
ready said  that  I  am  in  favor  of  the  higher 
education  of  woman.  Let  me  say  again  that 
I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  education  too 
high  or  too  good  for  our  mothers  and  our  sis- 
ters, for  our  wives  and  our  daughters — and 
our  sweethearts.     It  is  simply  a  question  of 


Raising  an  Issue  29 

what  education  is  best  for  woman  herself.  If 
we  are  agreed  In  holding  that  men  and  women 
in  their  mental  and  moral  unfolding,  even 
from  their  earliest  childhood,  are  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  each  other,  it  follows  as  an  evi- 
dent conclusion  that  it  will  require  different 
training  to  develop  the  best  that  is  in  each/' 
**I  don't  know  why  I  should  agree  to  that 
statement,''  retorted  Miss  Geddes.  **Why  is 
woman  so  different  from  man,  I'd  like  to 
know?  Does  she  not  eat  the  same  food  and 
breathe  the  same  air?  Has  she  not  the  same 
desire  for  happiness,  the  same  need  of  inde- 
pendence and  freedom?  Is  she  not  under  the 
same  necessity  of  conquering  her  environment 
and  making  it  yield  the  boon  for  which  all 
strive?  This  constant  assertion  of  the  unlike- 
ness  of  man  and  woman  is  but  a  flimsy  disguise 
of  man's  contempt  for  woman's  intelligence. 
There  is  neither  male  nor  female  in  the  spirit- 
ual world,  and  if  the  mind  and  character  of 
woman  seem  to  differ  from  those  of  man  it  is 
because  man  has  wronged  her  and  kept  her  in 
bondage  so  long  that  she  has  grown  weak  and 


30     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

clinging  and  dependent.  Give  woman  her 
freedom,  and  while  her  body  will  remain  as 
God  made  it'' — "Not  if  she  can  help  it/' 
put  in  Miles  O'Brien — *'her  mind  will  be 
emancipated  and  she  will  meet  man  on  equal 
terms. 

"It  tries  one's  patience  to  meet  men  on 
every  side  calmly  assuming  their  own  inherent 
superiority  as  if  their  souls  were  made  of  some 
superior,  celestial  clay !  *0n  what  meat  doth 
this  our  Caesar  feed  that  he  hath  grown  so' 
great!'" 

**My  dear  Miss  Geddes,  I  do  not  blame  you 
in  the  least  for  resenting  that  air  of  superior- 
ity that  the  Professor  has  been  wearing  all 
the  evening.  He  sits  there  like  a  sphinx  dis- 
daining to  vouchsafe  a  word  of  Illumination 
to  any  of  us.  I  confess  that  he  often  aggra- 
vates me  so  that  if  it  were  not  for  my  profes- 
sion I  would  be  inclined  to  try  conclusions 
with  him  in  another  way.  But  I  had  always 
supposed  that  he  had  too  much  diplomacy  to 
manifest  this  assumed  superiority  toward  his 
lady  friends." 


Raising  an  Issue  31 

**Well,  I  like  that,  when  the  fact  of  the 
matter  is  Mr.  O'Brien  has  tried  half  a  dozen 
times  to  get  a  word  in  edgewise,  and  I  have 
been  simply  perplexed  as  to  how  you  were 
going  to  escape  from  the  web  of  fallacies  that 
you  have  woven  around  yourself.  I  suppose 
one  should  not  expect  consistency  from  a  peda- 
gog,  but  to  be  told  that  we  should  not  have 
coeducation  because  man  and  woman  are  un- 
like mentally,  and  then  to  be  told  that  they  are 
unlike  mentally  because  we  do  not  want  them 
to  be  alike  is  a  little  too  much.  Of  course  we 
would  hardly  expect  a  pedagog  to  know  any- 
thing about  history,  but  even  the  elementary 
knowledge  of  history  that  is  common  to  all 
professions  should  have  made  him  aware  that 
coeducation  is  a  natural  institution.  The 
home  is  the  first  great  school.  Smith  with  his 
seven  girls  has  an  opportunity  to  try  segrega- 
tion, but  I  do  not  think  he  appreciates  it;  and 
most  people  with  families  regard  it  as  a  de- 
cided advantage  to  have  both  boys  and  girls. 

**There  are  a  hundred  other  things  that  I 
have  been  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  say. 


32     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

but  the  Doctor  has  used  up  the  whole  even- 
ing; and  while  I  hate  to  break  up  this  delight- 
ful company,  I  find  it  is  past  time  for  me  to  be 
starting  for  home." 

**Just  a  moment,  Professor,"  said  Mrs. 
O'Brien,  *^Anna  has  some  crackers  and  Roque- 
fort and  a  cup  of  coffee  to  reenforce  you  against 
this  cold  evening;  and  you  are  to  consider 
yourselves  invited  to  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Crackers  and  Cheese  Club  on  Friday  evening, 
when  the  Professor,  I  am  sure,  will  favor  us 
with  his  views,  and  I  know  that  Miles  is  just 
bursting  with  the  pent-up  desire  to  enlighten 
the  rest  of  us." 


CHAPTER  II 

Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics 

**In  the  last  meeting  of  this  club,"  said  Miles 
O'Brien,  **Miss  Geddes  triumphantly  vindi- 
cated woman's  capacity  and  woman's  claim 
to  higher  education,  and  we  have  all  been 
waiting  for  you.  Professor,  to  follow  suit  this 
evening,  that  we  may  see  how  you  measure  up 
beside  her  in  your  plea  for  coeducation  for  the 
male  and  female  sexes." 

*^lt  is  not  fair  to  expect  me  to  defend  the 
cause  of  coeducation  in  this  company.  The 
Doctor  aroused  my  curiosity  the  other  even- 
ing; I  wanted  to  see  him  extricate  himself 
from  his  tangle  of  fallacies.  It  is  one  thing, 
however,  to  see  through  Dr.  Studevan's  fal- 
lacies and  quite  another  to  espouse  the  cause 
of  coeducation,  particularly  in  the  present 
company,  for  many  of  you  have  given  the  sub- 
ject more  thought  and  study  than  I  have. 
There  are,  however,  a  few  obvious  facts  in 


34     The  Education  of  Our   Girls 

favor  of  coeducation  that  do  not  seem  to  have 
impressed  our  pedagog. 

'*The  family  is  the  oldest  of  human  institu- 
tions. It  was  the  only  school  known  to  primi- 
tive man  and  the  verdict  of  the  ages  has  been 
decidedly  in  favor  of  mixed  families.  When- 
ever Divine  Providence  sees  fit  to  bestow 
segregated  families,  no  one  seems  to  be  par- 
ticularly grateful.  Man  seldom  successfully 
interferes  with  nature's  plan  and  we  should 
scarcely  expect  good  results  from  the  artificial 
separation  of  the  sexes  in  our  schools.  The 
constant  presence  of  the  opposite  sex  is  a 
natural  stimulus  for  the  development  of  many 
of  the  best  traits  of  both  boys  and  girls. 
Segregation  has  a  long  history  back  of  it  and 
the  results  can  hardly  be  pointed  to  as  evi- 
dence in  favor  of  the  plan.  It  is  something 
like  the  maiming  of  the  feet  of  the  Chinese 
women  or  the  disfigurement  of  the  heads  of 
the  South  American  Indians.  The  placing  of 
man's  ideals  above  nature's  laws  is  the  folly 
involved  in  each  of  these  cases,  and  wherever 
this  happens   the  one  thing  we  may  count 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics  35 

upon  with   certainty  is  that  nature  will  be 
avenged. 

*When  the  girl  is  excluded  during  all  the 
years  of  her  school  life  from  the  companion- 
ship of  the  opposite  sex  she  grows  weak  and 
defenseless.  The  results  of  this  procedure, 
however,  were  not  so  disastrous  in  the  past  as 
they  are  proving  to  be  in  the  present.  When,  in 
the  olden  time,  the  girl  left  her  convent  home 
only  to  enter  under  the  protection  of  the 
parental  roof,  where  she  was  not  allowed  to 
meet  men  until  her  parents  had  selected  a  suit- 
able husband  for  her,  the  defects  of  her  edu- 
cation along  the  lines  we  are  now  considering 
were  not  so  fatal.  The  economic  changes  of 
the  past  half  century  have  driven  woman  from 
her  old  position.  Steam  and  electricity  have 
robbed  her  of  domestic  employment;  and,  at 
least  as  far  as  the  masses  of  our  city  popula- 
tion are  concerned,  the  girl  is  obliged  on  leav- 
ing school  to  seek  employment  in  the  shop  and 
the  factory  and  in  the  busy  marts  of  trade. 
Woman  must  find  for  herself  a  new  position 
and  new  employment,  and  this  away  from  the 


36     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

protection  of  the  home.  Where  her  school 
training  has  left  her  unfit  to  meet  these  condi- 
tions disaster  is  the  usual  result  It  is  only  the 
silly  ranter  who  now  lifts  his  voice  against  the 
new  woman.  To  try  to  drive  her  back  into 
her  old  position  is  as  futile  as  it  would  be  to 
inveigh  against  the  waters  of  Niagara  and  ex- 
pect as  a  result  that  they  would  return  to  the 
placid  bosom  of  the  Great  Lakes. 

"In  view  of  these  facts  the  segregation  of 
the  girl  during  her  school  life  would  seem  to 
be  the  worst  possible  preparation  for  her  suc- 
cessful struggle  with  the  environment  which 
she  must  enter  the  day  she  leaves  school.  If 
she  is  to  succeed  here  she  must  be  taught  to 
rely  upon  herself;  she  must  know  man;  she 
must  know  how  to  protect  herself  from  him 
and  how  to  compete  with  him  successfully. 
The  attempt  to  give  her  this  equipment  in  a 
segregated  school  would  seem  to  be  as  hope- 
less as  the  attempt  to  teach  physics  or  chem- 
istry or  biology  without  the  aid  of  a  labora- 
tory. It  is  worth  remembering  also  that 
woman  is  not  the  only  loser  by  the  system  of 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics  37 

segregation.  A  study  of  our  boarding  schools 
where  boys  are  huddled  together  away  from 
woman's  refining  influence  during  the  forma- 
tive period  of  their  lives  shows  a  decided 
tendency  to  coarseness  as  the  general  result. 
The  presence  of  the  girls  keeps  the  boys  on 
their  good  behavior;  it  appeals  to  their  un- 
selfishness and  to  their  chivalry  and  it  develops 
many  of  the  finer  traits  of  character. 

**The  demand  for  coeducation,  therefore, 
would  seem  to  have  back  of  it  natural  law  and 
to  be  reenforced  by  present  social  and  eco- 
nomic conditions." 

*'A11  this  talk,"  said  Mr.  Eaton,  *'about 
woman's  meeting  man  on  equal  terms  is  pure 
moonshine.  She  is  not  now  and  she  never 
was  content  to  meet  man  on  equal  terms.  She 
has  always  played  the  role  of  queen  and  still 
insists  on  doing  it.  She  has  an  unfair  advan- 
tage of  man  as  the  case  stands.  When  I  reach 
the  street  car  on  my  way  home  from  my  of- 
fice, tired  to  death,  and  get  on  at  the  end  of 
the  line  so  as  to  secure  a  seat,  we  hardly  go  a 
block  when  a  bevy  of  your  Vomen  competi- 


38     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

tors  in  the  busy  marts  of  trade,'  who  are  cry- 
ing out  for  the  privilege  of  meeting  man  on 
equal  terms,  boards  the  car  and  straightway 
we  men  must  relinquish  our  seats  to  our 
^equals'  and  hang  to  a  strap  the  rest  of  the 
way  home !  We  have  been  having  altogether 
too  much  talk  about  woman's  rights;  it  seems 
to  me  high  time  that  we  heard  something 
about  man*s  rights.  Women  are  invading  our 
offices  and  driving  men  out  of  position  after 
position  by  unfair  competition;  they  compel 
men  to  contribute  part  of  their  support  and 
then  underbid  them  for  every  desirable  posi- 
tion in  sight.  The  equal  terms  that  woman 
wants  seem  to  be  all  the  soft  snaps  with  the 
homage  of  man  thrown  in.  Man  is  old  and 
hardened  and  is  beginning  to  get  used  to  his 
chains,  but  throwing  girls  in  among  a  lot  of 
young  boys  in  our  universities  to  take  their 
thoughts  away  from  their  studies  and  to  keep 
them  dancing  attendance  on  the  fair  sex  and 
digging  into  the  paternal  exchequer  to  buy 
theater  tickets  and  soda  water  and  candy  is 
carrying  the  joke  a  little  too  far." 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics  39 

*Toor  man,  it's  a  pity  about  him/'  retorted 
Miss  Geddes.  **Crows  will  come  home  to 
roost,  you  know.  Man  naturally  rebels  when 
he  is  compelled  to  take  a  dose  of  his  own  med- 
icine. Whose  fault  is  it,  Td  like  to  know,  that 
woman  supplies  the  demand  for  cheap  labor? 
If  there  were  any  fairness  in  man  he  would  see 
to  it  that  the  scale  of  wages  was  regulated  by 
the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  work  instead  of 
by  the  sex  of  the  worker.  But  of  course  this 
would  deprive  him  of  an  excuse  for  inveighing 
against  women  and  Chinamen  as  cheap  la- 
borers. 

*'And  as  for  man  hanging  to  the  straps  in 
the  street  cars,  it  serves  him  exactly  right.  If 
women  were  permitted  to  vote  how  long  do 
you  suppose  the  street-car  companies  would 
be  allowed  to  bulldoze  the  public  in  this  way  ? 
They  take  good  care  to  collect  the  fares  and  a 
few  thousand  dollars  slipped  into  the  hands  of 
public  servants  secures  them  the  privilege  of 
packing  human  beings  into  the  street  cars  like 
sardines. 

*'And  as  for  our  young  men  In  college,  if 


40    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

they  are  such  Imbeciles  as  you  paint  them,  It  Is 
about  time  that  they  had  chaperones  appointed 
to  protect  the  poor  dears  against  the  girls! 
But  judging  from  the  statement  of  President 
Eliot,  the  young  men  do  not  seem  to  be  fall- 
ing very  rapidly  into  the  nets  which  the  young 
college  women  are  spreading  for  them." 

"Now,  will  you  be  good,"  said  Miles 
O'Brien,  turning  with  an  air  of  mock  serious- 
ness to  Mr.  Eaton.  '^Evidently  segregation 
must  look  elsewhere  than  to  man's  wrongs  for 
support  when  coeducation  has  such  a  brilliant 
advocate  as  Miss  Geddes.  I  vote  for  fair 
play.  Let's  divide  the  thing  between  them; 
give  man  the  coeducation  and  woman  the 
segregation. 

**I  taught  for  many  years  in  a  university 
where  we  had  coeducation  and  my  heart  al- 
ways bled  for  the  poor  girls.  Girl  freshmen 
bloomed  like  roses  and  lilies,  but  by  the  time 
they  had  grown  Into  seniors  the  blood  had  all 
faded  from  their  cheeks  and  the  drawn  looks 
on  their  faces  would  melt  the  heart  of  a  stone. 
In  those  years  when  every  young  woman's 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics  41 

fancy  should  be  turning  to  poetry,  to  music 
and  painting,  with  a  little  serious  work  thrown 
in  for  condiment,  it's  a  sin  that  cries  to  heaven 
for  vengeance  to  have  them  wasting  their 
beautiful  young  lives  trying  to  keep  up  with 
the  young  men  in  mathematics  and  in  civil 
engineering.  If  they  listened  to  nature's  voice 
during  those  years,  they  would  be  designing 
pretty  gowns  and  Easter  bonnets  and  growing 
into  graceful  ways  that  would  soften  the  heart 
of  even  such  confirmed  bachelors  as  our 
friend  Shannon.  Give  the  dears  higher  edu- 
cation, of  course,  but  give  it  to  them  in  smaller 
doses.  If  they  don't  get  married,  give  them 
six  or  seven  years  to  drink  it  in  instead  of 
four.  There  is  no  sense  in  hurrying  up  the 
dear  creatures.  They  have  so  many  things  to 
learn  that  never  bother  a  man's  head.  And 
besides  they  are  handicapped  in  other  ways; 
look  at  the  time  it  takes  them  every  morning 
to  fix  their  hair  and  dress  becomingly,  at  least 
if  it  takes  them  as  long  as  it  takes  Kate." 

**0h,  it's  easy  for  you  to  talk,  Miles,"  said 
Mrs.  O'Brien,  *'but  you  keep  the  whole  house 


42     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

waiting  on  you  when  you  are  dressing.  Your 
studs  have  to  be  put  in  for  you  and  your  tie 
fastened,  and  the  dear  knows  all.  Women 
aren't  a  bit  slower  in  dressing  than  men  are.'' 

**It  is  all  well  enough  to  laugh  at  the  ques- 
tion," said  Miss  Ruth,  ^'but  it  is  really  a  very 
serious  matter  for  all  that.  A  good  college 
education  is  now  a  necessity  to  all  of  our 
women  who  must  provide  for  themselves  and 
who  would  rise  above  the  rank  of  clerks  and 
domestic  servants.  There  seem  to  be  insuper- 
able obstacles  whichever  way  one  turns.  On 
the  one  hand  we  are  told  that  segregation 
leaves  woman  weak  and  defenseless;  and  on 
the  other  hand  we  are  assured  that  coeduca- 
tion destroys  her  physical  constitution  and 
takes  the  young  men's  thoughts  away  from 
their  work.  Dr.  Studevan  should  be  able  to 
find  a  solution  for  us.  The  key  to  the  situa- 
tion is  surely  not  to  be  found  in  the  constantly 
changing  social  environment  but  in  the  process 
of  mental  unfolding." 

**Well,  I  tried  to  give  my  views  at  our  last 
meeting,  but  Shannon  wouldn't  give  me  a 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics  43 

chance  to  talk.  The  root  of  the  whole  ques- 
tion, as  I  said,  lies  in  the  fundamental  differ- 
ence between  the  mental  and  moral  life  of 
man  and  the  mental  and  moral  life  of  woman. 
When  I  first  took  up  the  study  of  psychology, 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago,  I  felt  that 
undue  emphasis  had  been  laid  upon  this  con- 
trast between  the  character  of  man  and  the 
character  of  woman.  It  was  evident,  of 
course,  that  woman  was  more  beautifully  at- 
tired and  that  man  had  a  more  convenient,  if 
less  artistic,  costume.  They  both  spoke  the 
same  language;  they  delighted  in  the  same 
books ;  they  worshiped  at  the  same  altar ;  they 
ate  the  same  food.  But  on  closer  acquaintance 
the  superficiality  of  this  view  became  evident. 
The  longer  I  have  known  men  and  women  and 
the  more  intimately  I  have  become  acquainted 
with  their  methods,  with  the  springs  of  their 
actions  and  the  color  of  their  thoughts,  the 
more  unlike  each  other  they  have  seemed  until 
now  my  difficulty  is  to  find  points  of  resem- 
blance, so  completely  do  they  seem  to  differ 
from  each  other." 


44    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

**Doctor,  you  talk  as  if  you  were  lecturing 
to  your  class  in  pedagogy  this  evening/'  said 
Miss  Geddes,  '*and  as  usual  dealing  in  glit- 
tering generalities.  Would  it  be  asking  too 
much  of  you  to  point  out  to  us  some  of  these 
striking  differences  of  which  you  are  always 
talking?'' 

*Why,  I  don't  mind,  Miss  Geddes,  If  you 
will  only  be  good  enough  to  listen  to  me.  To 
begin  with,  in  their  loves  there  is  this  impor- 
tant difference  between  man  and  woman :  the 
instinct  for  concealment  seems  to  be  an  inte- 
gral part  of  man's  love,  while  woman  glories 
in  her  love.  In  religion  there  is  a  similar  dif- 
ference. The  man  who  parades  his  religion 
is  usually  wanting  in  genuine  piety  and  the 
prudent  man  suspects  him  of  designs  on  other 
people's  purses.  The  piety  of  woman,  on  the 
contrary,  finds  no  need  for  concealment. 
Again,  a  woman  suddenly  confronted  with 
overwhelming  evidence  of  some  fault,  will 
deny  everything  until  her  conscience  has  had 
time  to  assert  itself  and  compel  her  to  make 
a  confession ;  whereas,  man,  under  similar  cir- 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics    45 

cumstances,  will  break  down  immediately  and 
admit  his  fault  until  his  intelligence  comes  to 
his  aid  in  concocting  a  lie. 

'*There  is  a  difference  between  man  and 
woman  more  fundamental  than  any  of  these: 
woman  reaches  the  truth  directly  by  a  sort  of 
intuition,  while  man  gropes  his  way  slowly 
toward  the  truth  as  the  conclusion  of  an  argu- 
ment. In  the  one  case  the  propositions  of  an 
argument  are  fused  into  one  conscious  state; 
in  the  other  they  are  merely  articulated. 
Again,  woman  is  predominantly  emotional, 
while  man's  conduct  is  more  amenable  to  rea- 
son and  argument;  a  difference  which  is  due 
in  large  measure  to  the  difference  in  their  way 
of  arriving  at  truth.  George  EHot  has  pic- 
tured a  fundamental  difference  in  the  sympa- 
thies of  man  and  woman  in  her  portrayal  of 
the  characters  of  Savonarola  and  Romola. 
Savonarola  was  carried  away  by  his  enthu- 
siasm for  principle  and  was  often  blind 
to  the  sufferings  of  the  individuals  about 
him,  while  Romola's  broader  view  was 
dimmed  by  her  tears  of  sympathy  for  the 


46     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

sufferings  of  those  with  whom  she  came 
in  contact. 

**Now,  the  bearing  of  all  this  on  the  ques- 
tion of  coeducation  seems  to  me  quite  evident. 
The  multiplying  of  several  unlike  numbers  by 
the  same  number  must  give  unlike  results.  So, 
too,  a  like  treatment  of  unlike  natures  must 
result  in  different  developments.  The  princi- 
ple here  involved  carries  us  much  further  than 
the  question  of  coeducation.  There  are 
scarcely  two  boys  or  two  girls  in  any  of  our 
schools  who  receive  similar  treatment  without 
its  resulting  in  injury  to  one  or  the  other.  The 
aim  of  all  true  education  must  be  to  deal  with 
each  child  according  to  his  needs,  and  these 
needs  will  differ  in  proportion  as  the  children 
differ  from  one  another." 

*That  view  is  set  forth  beautifully  in  The 
Ambassador  of  Christ,'  by  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons,*' said  Miss  Ruth.  *'Have  you  the  book, 
Mr.  O'Brien?  .  .  .  Thank  you.  Let  me 
read  these  few  lines  (page  50)  : 

**  The  professor  who  would  aim  at  shaping 
the  character  of  all  his  students  according  to 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics    47 

one  uniform  ideal  standard  would  be  attempt- 
ing the  impossible,  because  he  would  be 
striving  to  do  what  is  at  variance  with  the 
laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God.  In  all 
the  Creator's  works,  there  is  charming  variety. 
There  are  no  two  stars  in  the  firmament  equal 
in  magnitude  and  splendor,  *'for  star  differeth 
from  star  in  glory" ;  there  are  no  two  leaves 
of  the  forest  alike,  no  two  grains  of  sand,  no 
two  human  faces.  Neither  can  there  be  two 
men  absolutely  identical  In  mental  capacity  or 
moral  disposition.  One  may  excel  In  solid 
judgment,  another  In  tenacity  of  memory,  and 
a  third  In  brilliancy  of  imagination.  One  is 
naturally  grave  and  solemn,  another  Is  gay 
and  vivacious.  One  Is  of  a  phlegmatic, 
another  of  a  sanguine  temperament.  One  Is 
constitutionally  shy,  timid,  and  reserved; 
another  Is  bold  and  demonstrative.  One  is 
taciturn,  another  has  his  heart  in  his  mouth. 
The  teacher  should  take  his  pupils  as  God 
made  them,  and  aid  them  in  bringing  out  the 
hidden  powers  of  their  soul.  If  he  tries  to 
adopt  the  leveling  process  by  casting  all  In  the 


48     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

same  mold,  his  pupils  will  become  forced  and 
unnatural  in  their  movements;  they  will  lose 
heart,  their  spirit  will  be  broken,  their  man- 
hood crippled  and  impaired. 

**  '  **I  will  respect  human  liberty,"  says 
Monseigneur  Dupanloup,  *^in  the  smallest 
child  even  more  scrupulously  than  in  a  grown 
man;  for  the  latter  can  defend  himself  against 
me,  while  the  child  can  not.  Never  shall  I 
insult  the  child  so  far  as  to  regard  him  as 
material  to  be  cast  into  a  mold,  and  to  emerge 
with  a  stamp  given  by  my  will.'' 

*'  ^Instead  of  laboring  to  crush  and  subdue 
their  natural  traits  and  propensities,  he  should 
rather  divert  them  into  a  proper  chan- 
nel.   .    .    . 

"  *Jesus  Christ  is  the  model  Teacher.  His 
conduct  toward  His  disciples  is  the  best  exam- 
ple to  be  followed.  He  did  not  attempt  to 
quench  their  natural  spirit,  but  He  purified 
and  sanctified  it  in  the  fires  of  Pentecost. 
After  Peter  had  graduated  in  the  school  of  his 
Master,  he  remained  the  same  ardent  man 
that  he  had  ever  been.'  " 


Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics    49 

**The  Cardinal  is  entirely  right/'  said  Dr. 
Studevan.  *^Every  line  of  psychology  insists 
upon  the  truth  that  it  is  the  business  of  the 
teacher  to  go  to  the  pupil  and  to  deal  with  him 
according  to  his  needs.  The  situation  in  the 
schools  renders  it  impossible  to  deal  with  each 
child  separately,  and  some  classification  is  nec- 
essary in  order  to  economize  time  and  to  se- 
cure system.  This  classification  must  be  based 
not  alone  on  differences  of  actual  attainment 
but  on  the  differences  of  the  underlying  na- 
tures of  the  children.  Now,  since  the  most 
fundamental  of  these  differences  seem  to  be 
associated  with  sex,  a  classification  along  sex 
lines  would  seem  to  be  desirable.'' 

**But,  Doctor,  is  not  this  placing  theory 
above  natural  law?  If  the  home  is  nature's 
school,  coeducation  is  nature's  plan  and  a  sep- 
aration of  the  sexes  is  consequently  a  viola- 
tion of  it." 

*'Miss  Ruth,  we  must  not  be  misled  by  the 
Professor's  fallacies.  You  see,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  defend  coeducation,  and  we  mustn't 
be  too  hard  on  him.     It  would  never  do  to 


50    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

take  it  for  granted  that  he  has  failed  to  make 
a  close  analysis  of  such  institutions  as  the 
home  and  the  school.  In  any  such  analysis  he 
must  have  discovered  many  fundamental  dif- 
ferences of  the  utmost  importance  to  a  proper 
understanding  of  this  question.  The  school  is 
but  a  specialized  offshoot  of  the  home  and  it 
is  very  far  from  being  analogous  to  it.  The 
school  does  not  deal  with  infancy  nor  does  it 
normally  include  the  social  life  of  the  pupil. 
*The  need  of  social  intercourse  between  the 
sexes  has  been  pointed  out,  but  it  is  not  at  all 
necessary  that  this  social  intercourse  should 
take  place  in  the  classroom.  Again,  we  might 
very  well  concede  the  advantage  of  mixed  fac- 
ulties which  would  impart  to  the  young  women 
the  strength  and  quality  that  is  supposed  to 
emanate  from  the  masculine  character  and 
which  would  give  the  boys  that  cultural  de- 
velopment which  can  only  be  secured  through 
a  woman.  Moreover,  the  question  of  Coedu- 
cation versus  Segregation  applies  more  partic- 
ularly to  the  period  of  adolescence — to  the 
high  school  and  college.    Many  advocates  of 


UNIVERSn 

OF 

Some  Psychical  Sex  Characteristics    5 1 

segregation  for  the  older  pupils  are  quite  con- 
tent with  coeducation  in  the  elementary 
schools.  And  among  all  primitive  peoples, 
however  closely  the  sexes  may  be  associated 
in  infancy,  their  occupations  become  quite 
sharply  differentiated  before  the  children 
reach  the  period  of  adolescence.  So  that  the 
argument  from  nature  is  clearly  in  favor  of 
segregation  and  no  one  is  more  keenly  aware 
of  this  than  the  Professor  himself.  There 
are,  however,  so  many  phases  of  this  subject 
which  merit  our  consideration  that  I  do  not 
dare  take  them  up  now.  The  Professor  is 
already  growing  restless;  he  is  afraid,  I  sup- 
pose, that  his  landlady  will  lock  him  out.'* 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Grading  of  School  Children 

"It  is  a  pleasant  surprise  to  find  you  here  to- 
night, Miss  Ruth/'  said  Professor  Shannon 
on  entering  the  room.  '*I  had  about  recon- 
ciled myself  to  your  deserting  us  for  the  con- 
cert, but  I  really  wanted  you  to  bring  your 
experience  to  bear  on  the  wild  theories  of  our 
friend  Studevan." 

"What  is  there  so  particularly  wild  about 
them?'' 

"You  surely  are  not  going  to  back  him  up 
in  this!  If  we  grade  children  not  merely  ac- 
cording to  differences  in  age  and  acquirement, 
but  according  to  differences  in  disposition  and 
inclination,  it  will  necessitate  as  many  grades 
in  the  school  as  there  are  children.  Won't 
you  admit  that  the  theory  is  visionary  and 
impractical?" 

"I  don't  think  we  quite  understand  Dr. 
Studevan.    Of  course  he  could  not  mean  what 


The  Grading  of  School  Children    53 

you  seem  to  find  in  his  statement.  But  here  is 
the  Doctor;  he  will  help  us  out,  I  am  sure." 

**I  am  always  delighted  to  help  a  lady  out, 
Miss  Ruth,  but  as  for  our  friend  Shannon,  I 
think  I  would  rather  help  him  in.  Isn't  Miss 
Geddes  here  this  evening?" 

**0h,  yes;  when  you  see  Professor  Shannon 
you  never  have  far  to  look  for  Miss  Geddes. 
She  has  just  left  the  room  with  Mrs.  O'Brien 
— but  speak  of  angels." 

*Who  has  been  talking  about  me?" 

^'Professor  Shannon,  of  course,"  replied 
Dr.  Studevan;  **he  heard  the  rustle  of  your 
wings  as  soon  as  he  came  in." 

**Doctor,"  said  Miss  Ruth,  'Von't  you  tell 
us  what  you  meant  by  the  new  system  of  grad- 
ing school  children  that  you  suggested  last 
Friday  evening?  Do  you  mean  that  we  are 
to  abandon  the  present  system  of  grading 
children  according  to  age  and  attainment  and 
to  substitute  a  gradation  according  to  differ- 
ences in  the  dispositions  and  tendencies  of  the 
children  ?  Or  do  you  advocate  a  system  based 
on  both  of  these  principles?" 


54    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

'*Is  not  that  a  rather  large  contract  for  one 
evening?  It  usually  furnishes  me  sufficient 
matter  for  three  or  four  lectures.  But  really, 
I  had  no  intention  of  suggesting  a  new  system 
of  grading  school  children,  although  I  do  be- 
lieve it  quite  possible  to  improve  the  present 
system  in  many  ways.  I  suppose  you  refer  to 
my  innocent  remark  that  unlike  children 
should  receive  unlike  treatment,  which  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  suggesting  that 
children  who  differ  from  one  another  should 
be  put  into  different  rooms." 

**Of  course  you  might  have  to  make  com- 
promises," said  Miss  Ruth,  **since  no  two  chil- 
dren are  exactly  alike,  and  naturally  we  could 
not  have  a  separate  room  and  a  separate 
teacher  for  each  child.  But  if  the  treatment 
of  the  children  should  vary  in  the  same  pro- 
portion as  the  children  differ  from  one  another 
in  character  and  in  developmental  tendencies, 
such  differences  surely  should  be  taken  into 
account  in  placing  the  children  in  the  various 
grades.  It  would  evidently  be  an  advantage 
to  bring  together  in  the  same  room  and  under 


The  Grading  of  School  Children    ^^ 

the  same  teacher  the  children  who  most  closely 
resemble  one  another." 

**That  is  your  conclusion,  perhaps,  but  it  is 
not  my  statement  and  it  is  very  far  from  my 
thought.  Contrast  is  a  principle  of  art,  and 
unlikeness  is  characteristic  of  all  nature.  Look 
at  the  variety  in  the  plant  life  that  clothes  the 
hillside  and  flourishes  in  the  valley.  Again, 
it  is  the  unlikeness  of  flower  and  insect  that 
render  these  creatures  indispensable  to  each 
other.  And  in  the  great  cycle  of  life  how 
close  is  the  interdependence  of  plant  and  ani- 
mal, of  earthworm  and  bacterium.  This  con- 
trast and  opposition  is  an  all-pervasive  prin- 
ciple of  life;  its  presence  is  essential  even 
within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  protozoon's 
body,  whose  growth  and  nutrition  depend 
essentially  on  the  presence  of  antagonistic  ele- 
ments. The  animalcule  grows  to  inconvenient 
size  and  divides  into  two  daughter  cells ;  each 
daughter  cell  in  due  time  repeats  the  process, 
but  if  we  continue  our  observation  we  will  find 
that  the  growth  and  multiplication  diminish 
as  we  proceed  from  generation  to  generation. 


56     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

Usually  after  a  limited  number  of  generations 
the  vital  manifestations  cease  unless  two 
divergent  Individuals  meet  and  fuse  and  thus 
rejuvenate  the  life  process. 

**ThIs  principle  does  not  halt  at  the  fron- 
tiers of  life;  all  activity  In  the  Inanimate  world 
is  similarly  conditioned.  The  flow  of  heat  de- 
pends upon  differences  in  temperature.  The 
thunder  of  Niagara  and  the  mighty  rush  of  the 
Whirlpool  Rapids,  which  Huxley  has  so  beau- 
tifully compared  to  life  Itself,  are  but  the 
manifestations  of  water  seeking  equilibrium. 
If  from  this  we  turn  our  eyes  to  the  opposite 
frontier  of  created  being,  where  else  shall  we 
find  the  source  of  the  divine  discontent  which 
fills  the  soul  of  the  artist  except  in  the  contrast 
between  the  inward  vision  and  its  outward  ex- 
pression ? 

"Unllkeness  is  also  indispensable  to  the 
joy  and  fruitfulness  of  social  intercourse. 
Every  night  and  morning  for  years  I  have  de- 
voutly offered  up  the  Scotchman's  prayer :  *0 
God,  gie  us  a  gude  conceit  o'  oursel,'  and 
while  I  feel  that  Divine  Providence  has  never 


The  Grading  of  School  Children    57 

answered  any  other  of  my  prayers  so  abun- 
dantly, still  I  promise  you  that  if  ever  I  find  a 
man  just  like  myself — I  will  most  scrupulously 
avoid  him.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  anything 
more  stupid  than  a  group  of  people  each  one 
of  whom  is  exactly  like  every  other.  The 
activity  of  a  magnet  is  proportionate  to  the 
difference  between  its  poles.  In  social  inter- 
course likewise  the  mental  activity  evoked  is 
a  function  not  of  similarities  but  of  differences 
among  the  persons  concerned.  In  his  ^Second 
Thoughts  of  an  Idle  Fellow,'  Jerome  K. 
Jerome  has  given  us  a  picture  of  the  ennui  of 
the  isolated  honeymoon.  We  have  often  been 
told  that  half  a  century  of  wedded  bliss  molds 
the  minds  and  hearts  as  well  as  the  features  of 
husband  and  wife  into  the  likeness  of  each 
other;  we  see  them  sitting  beside  the  fire  on 
a  winter's  evening  with  no  need  for  speech 
since  they  are  Two  souls  with  but  a  single 
thought;  two  hearts  that  beat  as  one.'  I  ad- 
mit the  beauty  of  it  all;  but  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  it  is  the  beauty  of  rest  and  peace, 
perhaps  of  heaven.     It  is  not  the  manifesta- 


58     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

tion  of  progress,  of  activity,  of  change  and 
growth." 

**If  you  were  logical,  Doctor,"  said  Miss 
Geddes,  ^*you  would  be  an  advocate  of  tempo- 
rary marriages.  If  the  stimulation  to  mutual 
activity  disappears  so  rapidly,  a  change  would 
be  quite  advantageous  in  a  couple  of  years, 
don't  you  think?" 

**Your  conclusion  hardly  follows.  Miss 
Geddes — at  least  when  Providence  is  merci- 
ful. A  year  or  two  of  married  life  may  bring 
changes,  you  know,  and  introduce  many  new 
forms  of  activity,  such  as  pacing  the  floor  at 
night,  and  many  differences  of  opinion  con- 
cerning the  proper  discipline  for  children." 

**Studevan  is  at  his  old  tricks  to-night,"  said 
the  Professor;  **he  is  treating  us  to  grandilo- 
quent perorations  and  dodging  the  question  at 
issue." 

**No  one  expects  Shannon  to  see  the  point 
this  evening,  his  thoughts  are  far  too  pleas- 
antly occupied  to  follow  the  argument.  Pro- 
fessor, if  you  will  just  look  this  way  and  try 
to  concentrate  your  attention  for  a  few  min- 


The  Grading  of  School  Children    59 

utes  I  will  endeavor  to  explain  the  situation  to 
you. 

**I  have  just  been  pointing  out  the  advantage 
of  having  little  boys  and  little  girls  sit  side  by 
side  in  our  schoolrooms.  Their  embryonic 
love  affairs  need  hardly  give  any  one  concern 
and  the  children  have  much  to  learn  from  one 
another.  The  boy  will  be  kept  on  his  good 
behavior,  his  gentleness  and  his  chivalry  will 
be  developed  and  he  will  learn  his  first  lessons 
in  protecting  the  weak  and  in  seeing  the  world 
through  the  eyes  of  others;  and  the  girl  will 
lay  deep  the  foundations  of  an  understanding 
of  the  masculine  nature  which  will  prove  of 
inestimable  value  to  her  in  later  life  when  she 
undertakes  the  difficult  task  of  managing  a 
husband. 

**Men  and  women  are  so  different  from 
each  other  that  it  is  quite  essential  to  begin 
early  to  give  them  such  a  mutual  understand- 
ing as  will  put  the  divorce  court  out  of  busi- 
ness. Moreover,  there  are  many  beneficial 
results  to  be  derived  from  the  grouping  in  the 
same  room  of  children  with  unlike  dispositions 


6o    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

and  unlike  tendencies.  Even  more  than  in  the 
case  of  adults,  the  unlikeness  of  the  members 
of  the  youthful  group  stimulates  mental  activ- 
ity. The  adult  has  resources  within  himself; 
he  has  the  key  to  many  a  storeroom  in  nature's 
treasury,  and  in  his  library  he  may  commune 
with  the  choice  minds  of  all  the  ages. 

**0n  the  other  hand,  imitation  is  the  chief, 
I  had  almost  said  the  only,  avenue  of  knowl- 
edge open  to  the  child.  Imitation  is  some- 
what like  gravity,  the  strength  of  the  impulse 
seems  to  vary  inversely  as  the  distance.  The 
mind  and  the  character  of  the  teacher  may 
give  direction  to  the  child's  endeavor,  but  the 
child  or  the  man  is  strongly  moved  to  imitate 
only  those  who  stand  near  him.  It  is  quite 
essential,  therefore,  to  the  child's  unfolding 
life  that  he  be  provided  with  a  reasonably 
large  group  of  divergent  models.  In  a  prop- 
erly conducted  schoolroom  the  children  learn 
far  more  from  one  another  than  they  do  from 
either  books  or  teachers. 

**If  the  differences  in  the  characters  and  in 
the  developmental  tendencies  of  the  children 


The  Grading  of  School  Children    6 1 

are  to  be  taken  into  account  at  all  in  grouping 
them  into  grades,  it  should  be  for  the  purpose 
of  separating  children  who  are  duplicates  of 
each  other — one  of  a  kind  is  sufficient  in  any 
room.  In  the  old-time  school,  where  the  end 
sought  was  erudition  rather  than  education, 
the  process  of  cramming  might  have  been 
facilitated  by  the  uniformity  of  the  children; 
but  in  the  modern  school,  where  the  whole 
effort  is  to  promote  growth  and  development 
in  the  children,  the  chief  needs  are  a  stimu- 
lating environment  and  a  reasonably  wide 
range  of  models  for  imitation.*' 

**The  little  country  school  which  I  attended 
as  a  boy,''  said  Mr.  Eaton,  *Vould  come  very 
near  filling  the  bill  according  to  the  Doctor's 
specifications.  He  certainly  would  have  no 
room  to  complain  of  want  of  differences 
among  the  children.  There  were  some  fifty 
of  us  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  crowded  into 
one  little  room  20  X  30  feet,  and  the  same 
teacher  taught  the  a,  b,  c's  and  the  higher 
mathematics  with  some  French  and  Latin  on 
the   side,    and   I    must   say   that    I    saw   as 


62     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

good  work  done  in  that  little  school  as  I  have 
ever  seen  in  after  years  in  the  high  school  or 
college.  And  come  to  think  of  it,  a  great 
many  of  those  fifty  children  have  attained  no 
small  measure  of  success  in  after  life.  Not  to 
speak  of  your  humble  servant,  who  of  course 
is  a  shining  light,  two  of  the  boys  have  be- 
come lawyers,  one  is  a  judge,  another  is  the 
president  of  a  great  railroad,  another  is  a 
doctor  of  national  reputation,  two  of  them  are 
university  professors,  and  one  of  them  honors 
the  miter.'' 

**If  your  school  is  a  fair  sample  of  the 
country  school,''  said  Professor  Shannon, 
**why  not  do  away  with  the  grades  altogether? 
Isn't  that  the  logical  outcome  of  the  Doctor's 
argument?" 

**I  believe  it  is  conceded,"  said  Miss  Ruth, 
"that  the  country  school  has  given  us  far  more 
than  its  pro  rata  of  successful  men,  but  in  ac- 
counting for  this  there  are  many  things  to  be 
taken  into  consideration  besides  the  absence 
of  grades.  The  children  are  usually  healthier; 
they  are  in  immediate  contact  with  nature  and 


The  Grading  of  School  Children    63 

they  thus  receive  a  sense  training  of  inesti- 
mable value  such  as  even  the  best  efforts  of 
the  city  school  cannot  supply.  The  children 
in  the  country  school  are  thrown  more  on 
their  own  resources  and  from  a  very  early  age 
develop  a  self-reliance  and  an  initiative  that 
are  also  exceedingly  difficult  to  impart  in  a 
crowded  city  school.  It  is  to  these  things 
rather  than  to  the  absence  of  grades  that  the 
success  of  the  country  school  is  due ;  neverthe- 
less, the  fact  that  it  does  obtain  such  good 
results  without  grading  and  where  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  teacher  seem  so  great  is  very 
suggestive.  The  matter  has  often  puzzled 
me,  but  it  seems  from  what  the  Doctor  has 
just  said  that  the  absence  of  grades  is  at  least 
largely  compensated  for  by  the  greater  variety 
in  the  children  and  by  the  greater  stimulation 
to  mental  activity  thus  evoked.  I  confess  I 
never  before  thought  of  the  matter  in  this 
light.  I  wonder  if  the  Doctor  really  holds  the 
absence  of  all  grades  to  be  an  advantage?" 

**No,  certainly  not.     A  judicious  grading 
will  always   be   an    advantage   to   both   the 


64     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

teacher  and  the  pupil.  The  benefit  following 
from  the  absence  of  grades  in  the  country 
school  is  indirect  and  accidental.  The  really 
essential  thing  is  that  each  child  should  be 
treated  according  to  his  needs.  In  the  coun- 
try school  the  teacher  by  force  of  circum- 
stances is  compelled  to  do  this.  Where  he 
has  to  deal  with  so  many  children  in  every 
phase  of  development  he  is  obliged  to  treat 
them  individually.  The  machine  mold  of  the 
grade  is  impossible  nor  is  there  any  tempta- 
tion to  make  all  the  children  alike,  as  in  the 
case  of  large  schools  where  the  grading  is 
close. 

'*A  successful  dinner  party  or  social  evening 
demands  a  certain  similarity  as  well  as  a  cer- 
tain difference  among  the  members  of  the 
group.  In  nothing  is  the  social  tact  of  the 
hostess  put  to  a  severer  test  than  in  thus  bring- 
ing together  just  the  right  people.  The  guests 
must  be  chosen  from  the  same  social  and  intel- 
lectual plane  with  just  enough  of  diversity  to 
supply  healthful  mental  stimulation — *and  this 
overdone  or  come  tardy  off' — and  so,  too,  in 


The  Grading  of  School  Children    65 

an  ideal  grading,  were  this  ever  actually  pos- 
sible, we  should  have  to  consider  many  things 
which  we  at  present  entirely  ignore. 

*^In  Germany  they  have  different  schools 
for  the  children  of  different  social  lamina,  but 
this  of  course  is  out  of  the  question  in  a  coun- 
try like  ours.  Still,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
some  modification  in  our  present  mode  of 
grouping  the  children  would  prove  advanta- 
geous. For  instance,  the  education  of  the 
child  who  is  to  leave  school  permanently  on 
the  completion  of  the  seventh  or  eighth  grade 
might  well  be  different  in  many  important  re- 
spects from  the  education  of  the  child  who 
contemplates  a  college  or  university  career. 
Again,  it  is  an  open  question  whether  or  not 
it  is  best  for  the  children  who  have  home  ad- 
vantages to  mingle  freely  with  the  children 
from  the  slums.  It  is  also  a  question  whether 
or  not  it  contributes  to  the  mental  and  moral 
welfare  of  the  poorly  fed  and  poorly  clothed 
children  to  be  thrown  into  immediate  associa- 
tion with  the  well-fed  and  well-clothed  chil- 
dren of  the  wealthy." 


66     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

*Tardon  me  for  interrupting  you,  Doctor/' 
said  Mrs.  O'Brien,  '*Miles  is  looking  hungry 
and  we  will  all  enjoy  the  rest  of  this  conversa- 
tion  better  around  the  dining-room  table.'' 


CHAPTER  IV 

Coeducation   and  Marriage 

**In  spite  of  all  that  Dr.  Studevan  has  said  on 
the  value  of  contrast  as  a  stimulus  to  mental 
development,"  said  Miles  O'Brien  as  he 
passed  the  Roquefort  to  Miss  Ruth,  **I  came 
away  from  the  university  convinced  by  my 
five  years  of  teaching  co-eds  that  coeducation 
is  a  failure.  Whatever  may  be  the  motives 
that  actuate  the  young  ladies  in  coming  to  the 
university,  they  soon  divide  into  two  well-de- 
fined groups.  The  members  of  one  group 
work  hard ;  they  usually  maintain  a  high  class 
standing  and  injure  their  health.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  other  group  devote  their  chief  at- 
tention to  the  young  men.  This  results  in 
cardiac  enlargement  rather  than  in  cerebral 
development.  And  as  to  the  young  men,  why 
of  course  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect 
any  young  man  with  red  blood  in  his  veins  to 
devote  his  evenings  to  physics,  to  higher  math- 


68     The  Education  of  Our   Girls 

ematics,  or  to  Roman  law  when  there  is  a 
sweet  young  lady  waiting  to  entertain  him. 

**Love  and  war  may  well  go  together,  but 
the  emotional  disturbances  evoked  by  love  in 
the  young  man  of  twenty  are  far  too  great  to 
permit  of  serious  study.  If  our  young  men's 
minds  are  to  be  sufficiently  developed  during 
their  college  days  to  insure  for  them  a  success- 
ful career  in  life,  I  am  afraid  the  young  ladies 
will  have  to  be  banished  from  the  university 
and  love-making  postponed  until  the  school 
period  is  completed." 

**Why  should  the  young  man  in  college  de- 
vote all  his  evenings  to  physics  or  to  Roman 
law?''  demanded  Miss  Geddes.  "Are  mate- 
rial prosperity  and  success  in  outwitting  one's 
fellows  the  only  things  for  which  our  young 
men  should  be  trained  in  the  colleges  and  uni- 
versities? Their  physical  strength  is  devel- 
oped on  the  ball  field  and  in  the  gymnasium, 
and  their  minds  are  trained  in  the  laboratory 
and  in  the  classroom.  Has  the  aesthetic  ele- 
ment in  their  life  no  value?  Should  they  so 
far  neglect  their  moral  and  social  life  that 


Coeducation  and  Marriage        69 

they  cannot  afford  an  evening  or  two  a  week 
for  their  friends?^' 

*Tou  are  quite  right/'  said  Professor  Shan- 
non; **the  whole  tendency  of  the  time  is 
toward  an  over-emphasis  of  the  material  side 
of  life.  Time  was  when  men  worked  in  order 
to  live;  to-day  it  would  seem  that  the  only 
value  of  life  is  dollars  and  cents.  Art  and 
literature,  music  and  song,  and  the  joys  of 
home  may  only  be  indulged  in  during  an  occa- 
sional hour  for  which  no  other  use  can  be 
found.'' 

**Is  not  this  tendency  to  overestimate  the 
material  side  of  life,"  asked  Miss  Ruth,  **one 
of  the  greatest  dangers  threatening  our  social 
existence?  I  was  much  impressed  with  Pro- 
fessor Miinsterberg's  article  on  the  Ameri- 
can Woman,  in  The  International  Monthly 
for  June,  1901." 

**Let  me  get  you  the  number,"  said  Mr. 
O'Brien,  *Ve  have  it  here  on  the  shelf." 

**As  I  remember  the  article,"  said  Miss 
Ruth,  ^'he  proves  that  the  male  portion  of  the 
community  has  practically  lost  its  appreciation 


7©    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

of  all  the  higher  things  of  life.    Let  me  read 
you  this  page  :* 

**  *The  public  life  that  I  have  in  mind  is  the 
public  expression  of  the  ideal  energies,  the 
striving  for  truth  and  beauty,  for  morality  and 
religion,  for  education  and  social  reform,  and 
their  embodiment,  not  in  the  home,  but  in  the 
public  consciousness.  In  Germany  no  one  of 
these  functions  of  public  life  is  without  the 
support  and  ennobling  influence  of  active 
women,  but  decidedly  the  real  bulk  of  the 
work  is  done  by  men;  they  alone  give  to  it 
character  and  direction,  and  their  controlling 
influence  gives  to  this  whole  manifoldness  of 
national  aims  its  strenuousness  and  unity;  to 
carry  these  into  the  millions  of  homes  and  to 
make  them  living  factors  in  the  family,  is  the 
great  task  of  the  women  there.  Here,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  women  are  the  real  supporters 
of  the  ideal  endeavors:  in  not  a  few  fields, 
their  influence  is  the  decisive  one ;  in  all  fields, 
this  influence  is  felt,  and  the  whole  system 
tends  ever  more  and  more  to  push  the  men 

*The  International  Monthly,  Vol.  III.,  p.  624. 


Coeducation  and  Marriage        71 

out  and  the  women  in.  Theater  managers 
claim  that  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  their  patrons 
are  women.  No  one  can  doubt  that  the  same 
percentage  would  hold  for  those  who  attend 
art  exhibitions,  and  even  for  those  who  read 
magazines  and  literary  works  in  general,  and 
we  might  as  well  continue  with  the  same  some- 
what arbitrary  figure.  Can  we  deny  that  there 
are  about  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  women 
among  those  who  attend  public  lectures,  or 
who  go  to  concerts,  among  those  who  look 
after  public  charities  and  the  work  of  the 
churches?  I  do  not  remember  ever  to  have 
been  in  a  German  art  exhibition  where  at  least 
half  of  those  present  were  not  men,  but  I  do 
remember  art  exhibitions  in  Boston,  New 
York,  and  Chicago  where  according  to  my 
actual  count  the  men  in  the  hall  were  less  than 
five  per  cent,  of  those  present.'  '' 

'Whatever  may  be  said  in  extenuation  of 
the  conditions  which  Miinsterberg  portrays  in 
that  article,"  said  Professor  Shannon,  **there 
are  few  who  will  challenge  the  truth  of  his 
statements.    In  a  new  country  like  ours  it  was 


72     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

to  be  expected,  of  course,  that  the  men  ac- 
tively engaged  in  developing  its  wonderful 
physical  resources  would  occasionally  lose 
sight  of  the  higher  things;  but  we  are  in  real 
danger  when  our  schools  and  universities, 
which  should  hold  aloft  the  lamp  of  truth  and 
direct  the  attention  of  the  young  steadfastly 
toward  culture  and  the  real  values  of  life,  set 
up  success  in  the  mad  race  for  wealth  as  their 
only  standard.  Even  the  churches  seem  to  be 
forgetting  the  message  which  they  were  com- 
missioned to  preach  to  the  world. 

**The  situation  is  truly  alarming  when  a 
man  so  full  of  idealism  as  Mr.  O'Brien  op- 
poses coeducation  on  the  ground  that  young 
men  in  college  can  not  spare  time  for  social  in- 
tercourse. This  argument  pushed  to  its  logi- 
cal conclusion  would  do  away  with  courtship 
and  marriage.  The  stress  is  severer  in  the 
ten  years  that  follow  a  young  man's  college 
days  than  in  any  other  period  of  his  life.  If 
while  at  college  he  can  not  find  time  for  court- 
ship, he  will  not  be  able  to  afford  it  until  he  is 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  then  it  will  be  too 


Coeducation  and  Marriage        73 

late,  because  the  inclination  to  marry  will  have 
been  greatly  diminished  before  that  time. 
This  is  probably  one  of  the  reasons  for  the 
abnormally  high  percentage  of  bachelors 
among  college  graduates. 

"But  there  are  still  more  potent  reasons  to 
be  urged  against  late  marriages.  Many  re- 
ligious communities  hesitate  to  accept  candi- 
dates after  they  are  thirty  years  of  age.  Ex- 
perience has  proved  that  after  this  age  a  can- 
didate can  not  readily  adjust  himself  to  the 
new  mode  of  life.  The  experience  of  rail- 
roads and  other  large  corporations  leads  them 
to  adopt  a  similar  course.  They  refuse  to 
appoint  to  important  positions  men  who  are 
over  thirty-five  years  of  age. 

**The  psychology  underlying  both  of  these 
cases  is  the  same.  Such  regulations  constitute 
a  practical  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the 
plastic  period  of  man's  life  ends  in  his  thirtieth 
or  thirty-fifth  year.  And  if  a  woman  finds  it 
impossible  to  adjust  herself  to  the  conditions 
of  a  nun's  life  after  she  is  thirty  and  a  man 
finds  it  difficult  or  impossible  to  succeed  in  a 


74     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

new  line  of  business  after  he  has  reached 
thirty-five,  how  can  we  expect  them  to  rise 
above  the  gross  material  things  of  life  if  the 
development  of  the  heart  and  of  the  aesthetic 
faculties  be  delayed  until  after  this  period? 
And  above  all,  how  can  we  expect  two  human 
beings  to  blend  into  the  unity  of  a  single  life 
at  the  age  of  thirty  who  up  to  this  time  have 
been  so  engrossed  in  the  material  things  of  life 
as  to  be  unable  to  afford  even  an  occasional 
hour  to  satisfy  the  promptings  of  the 
heart  ? 

**It  is  a  very  significant  fact  that  the  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  divorces  is  in  some  di- 
rect ratio  to  the  average  age  at  which  people 
marry.  To  delay  marriage  until  man  has  first 
won  a  position  in  the  world  is  to  render  true 
marriage  impossible.  Marriage  should  be  the 
preparation  for  life's  work  and  not  its  ter- 


mination." 


**That  is  an  argument  worthy  of  a  bache- 
lor,'' said  Mr.  Eaton.  *'I  believe  I  have  heard 
it  said  that  old  maids  have  the  best  children 
in  the  world  and  that  a  doctor  never  takes  his 


Coeducation  and  Marriage        75 

own  medicine.  Father  Tom  always  used  to 
say  that  it  was  an  unfair  division  of  labor  to 
have  the  same  man  do  the  practicing  and  the 
preaching.  But  if  Professor  Shannon  had  to 
dig  up  the  coin  to  support  three  or  four  young 
men  in  college,  to  set  them  up  in  business,  and 
to  furnish  their  offices,  and  to  pay  for  style 
for  the  first  ten  or  twelve  years  while  the 
young  professionals  are  waiting  for  clients,  he 
would  probably  not  be  in  any  hurry  to  become 
a  grandfather.  No  practical  young  man  with 
a  proper  amount  of  self-respect  will  think  of 
marrying  until  he  has  made  a  position  for 
himself  which  will  enable  him  to  support  a 
wife.  There  is  truth  in  the  old  saying,  When 
poverty  comes  in  at  the  door,  love  flies  out 
through  the  window.'  Running  a  home  in 
these  days  is  too  serious  an  undertaking  for 
youngsters.  Let  the  young  men  and  young 
women  enjoy  life  and  freedom  while  they  can, 
the  burdens  and  responsibilities  will  come  soon 
enough.'' 

^'Father  Tom  should  be  here  to-night,"  said 
the  Doctor;  **his  preaching  of  the  Gospel  of 


76     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

Christ  doesn't  seem  to  have  made  a  Christian 
of  Mr.  Eaton.  The  argument  to  which  we 
have  just  listened  Is  conclusive  it  we  accept  the 
gospel  of  Mammon  instead  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  *A11  these  things  will  I  give  thee  if 
falling  down  thou  wilt  adore  me.'  But  how 
can  we  square  such  a  line  of  reasoning  with 
the  precepts  of  the  Master?  'Do  ye  good, 
therefore,  hoping  for  nothing  thereby.'  'Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  justice 
and  all  these  things  will  be  added  unto  you.' 
'What  doth  it  profit  a  man  to  gain  the  whole 
world  if  he  lose  his  own  soul?'  *See  the  lilies 
of  the  field  how  they  toil  not  and  neither  do 
they  spin,  and  yet  Solomon  in  all  his  glory 
was  not  arrayed  as  one  of  these.'  The  life  is 
more  than  the  meat,  the  body  more  than  the 
raiment.'  We  shall  have  to  ask  Father  Tom 
to  preach  a  series  of  sermons  for  the  special 
benefit  of  some  of  his  parishioners. 

''But  apart  from  the  teaching  of  the  Mas- 
ter, I  am  afraid  we  shall  find  that  such  argu- 
ments as  that  put  forth  by  Mr.  Eaton  run 
counter  to  the  evidence  furnished  us  by  sociol- 


Coeducation  and  Marriage        "jj 

ogy  and  psychology.  What  great  happiness 
has  ever  come  to  men  who  make  the  acquisi- 
tion of  wealth  their  chief  business  of  life?  I 
know  many  poor  men  who  would  not  care  to 
change  places  with  some  of  the  multi-million- 
aires who  have  recently  come  before  the 
public. 

**I  suppose  none  of  us  would  find  it  difficult 
to  call  to  mind  men  who,  like  the  fool  in  the 
gospel,  ^laid  up  much  treasure  for  many  years,' 
and  when  they  turned  to  enjoy  their  wealth 
they  were  confronted  with  the  sentence  on  the 
wall.  Tool,  this  day  thy  soul  shall  be  de- 
manded of  thee.'  When  one  of  these  men 
would  build  a  home  for  himself  he  must  em- 
ploy another's  brain  to  design  it  for  him.  The 
decoration  of  its  interior  reflects  no  thought  of 
his;  even  the  private  library  is  selected  by 
another's  taste.  The  house  is  a  prison,  not  a 
home.  He  is  as  great  a  stranger  in  the  bosom 
of  his  own  family  as  he  is  in  the  new  mansion 
constructed  by  his  dollars.  After  all,  we  can 
no  more  change  the  seasons  of  a  man's  life 
than  we  can  control  the  seasons  of  the  year. 


yS     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

As  he  sows  in  the  springtime  of  life  so  shall 
he  reap  in  its  autumn. 

''During  childhood  and  adolescence  all 
achievement  derives  its  value  from  its  rela- 
tionship to  the  members  of  the  home  group. 
During  the  twenties  the  ties  which  bound  the 
members  of  the  home  group  into  a  solidarity 
of  thought,  action  and  aspiration  gradually 
disappear.  If  the  members  of  the  family  are 
held  together  after  this  it  is  by  artificial  re- 
straints. This  is  nature's  way  of  dispersing 
the  children  and  leading  them  to  build  homes 
of  their  own.  But  if  new  family  ties  are  not 
formed  while  the  old  ties  are  disintegrating, 
the  individual  is  likely  to  remain  for  the  rest 
of  his  days  a  solitary  wanderer  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  From  twenty  to  thirty  is  the  period 
of  greatest  fecundity;  it  is  the  termination  of 
the  plastic  period  of  life;  it  Is  the  time  within 
which  God  has  set  His  decree  that  man  should 
take  unto  himself  a  wife  and  that  'they  shall 
be  two  in  one  flesh,'  and  that  'they  shall  in- 
crease and  multiply  and  fill  the  earth.'  " 

"Granting  the  desirability  of  early  mar- 


Coeducation  and  Marriage        79 

riages,"  said  Miss  Ruth,  *Vouldn't  it  be  well 
for  some  one  to  collect  the  facts  in  the  case,  so 
as  to  ascertain  the  effect  of  coeducation  on  the 
marrying  age?  In  some  of  our  universities 
we  have  had  coeducation  for  more  than  a  gen- 
eration and  it  should  not  be  difficult  to  tabu- 
late the  results. 

*Trofessor  Miinsterberg  and  many  others 
seem  to  be  of  the  opinion  that  coeducation 
does  not  promote  early  marriage.  He  has 
many  suggestive  passages  on  the  subject  in  this 
article.    Here,  for  instance,  is  one  :* 

"  *I  take  for  granted  that  no  American  girl 
loses  in  attractiveness  by  passing  through  a 
college,  or  through  other  forms  of  the  higher 
and  the  highest  education.  But  we  have  only 
to  look  at  the  case  from  the  other  side,  and 
we  shall  find  ourselves  at  once  at  the  true 
source  of  the  calamity.  The  woman  has  not 
become  less  attractive  as  regards  marriage; 
but  has  not  marriage  become  less  attractive  to 
the  woman?  and  long  before  the  Freshman 
year  did  not  the  outer  influences  begin  to  impel 

*Op.  cit.,  p.  614. 


8o     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

in  that  direction?  Does  it  not  begin  in  every 
country  school  where  the  girls  sit  on  the  same 
bench  with  the  boys,  and  discover,  a  long,  long 
time  too  early,  how  stupid  those  boys  are? 
Coeducation,  on  the  whole  unknown  in  Ger- 
many, has  many  desirable  features;  it 
strengthens  the  girls;  it  refines  the  boys;  it 
creates  a  comradeship  between  the  two  sexes 
which  decreases  sexual  tension  in  the  years  of 
development;  but  these  factors  make,  at  the 
same  time,  for  an  indifference  toward  the 
other  sex,  toward  a  disillusionism,  which  must 
show  in  the  end.'  " 

*^The  effects  of  coeducation  and  of  higher 
education  on  marriage  and  on  home  life," 
said  Dr.  Studevan,  "are  to-day  subjects 
of  profound  interest  to  every  student  of  soci- 
ology, but  the  hour  is  so  late  that  I,  at  least, 
shall  have  to  forego  the  pleasure  of  further 
discussion  until  our  next  meeting." 


CHAPTER  V 

Symmetry  in  the  Cultural  Development  of  the 
Sexes 

As  Mr.  Eaton  entered  the  library  on  Friday 
evening,  a  few  minutes  after  the  usual  time, 
he  found  the  other  members  of  the  little  circle 
in  an  expectant  attitude. 

**Mr.  Eaton,''  said  Mr.  O'Brien,  "the 
members  of  this  club  have  just  gone  over  the 
minutes  of  our  last  meeting  and  have  decided 
that,  as  this  is  a  Christian  club,  you  should 
clear  yourself  of  the  charge  of  materialism  of 
which  you  stood  convicted  at  the  close  of  our 
last  meeting." 

**I  hope  that  accusation  by  Dr.  Studevan 
does  not  amount  to  conviction  by  this  club. 
Moreover,  if  we  exclude  from  membership 
in  the  Christian  church  all  those  who  agree 
with  me  in  thinking  that  marriage  should  be 
reserved  for  men  and  women  who  have 
reached  their  full  development  and  who  are 


82     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

in  a  position  to  build  homes  and  support  them 
without  relying  on  parental  aid,  I  am  afraid 
that  the  falling  off  in  the  number  of  Chris- 
tians will  be  greater  than  even  our  pessimists 
would  lead  us  to  believe. 

**Dr.  Studevan's  dream  of  youths  and 
maidens  seeking  the  rosy  bowers  of  love  be- 
neath the  classic  shades  of  Alma  Mater  and 
the  resulting  complications  of  valedictories 
and  graduating  exercises  with  bridal  veils  and 
wedding  marches  is  too  fantastic  to  find  ac- 
ceptance by  practical  men  in  these  practical 
days.  Life  has  become  too  complex  and  the 
struggle  for  existence  too  severe  to  admit  of 
such  pastorals  in  real  life.  Miss  Ruth  gave 
the  argum.ent  a  fine  turn  when  she  called  in 
Professor  Miinsterberg  to  prove  that  coedu- 
cation is  the  new  institution  destined  by  Divine 
Providence  to  keep  the  boys  and  girls  from 
seeking  marriage  until  they  have  grown  to 
years  of  discretion. '^ 

^'Professor  Miinsterberg's  argument,"  said 
Miss  Geddes,  **is  not  likely  to  be  accepted  as 
final.     His  ideal  may  perhaps  suffice  for  the 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    83 

average  German  girl,  who,  he  says,  will  marry 
any  one  that  she  thinks  will  not  make  her  un- 
happy, but  this  ideal  is  not  destined  to  find 
acceptance  in  this  country.  The  American 
girl  has  tasted  freedom  and  will  not  again 
allow  the  chains  of  ignorance  to  be  fastened 
on  her  soul,  nor  will  she  allow  any  one  else  to 
choose  for  her  a  partner  for  life.  The  malice 
of  his  whole  argument  is  too  near  the  surface: 
woman  must  not  be  allowed  to  attend  coedu- 
cational institutions  lest  in  this  way  she  should 
gain  such  a  clear  insight  into  man's  dullness 
and  coarseness  as  would  make  her  refuse  to 
rescue  him  from  his  forlorn  bachelor  condi- 
tion. The  American  girl  very  rightly  refuses 
to  be  led  blindfolded  into  marriage  bonds. 
She  insists  that  man  shall  render  himself 
worthy  of  her  before  she  accepts  him." 

^'Doesn't  it  seem  about  time,"  said  Profes- 
sor Shannon,  **that  some  one  came  to  Dr.  Stu- 
devan's  rescue  ?  He  has  been  strenuously  op- 
posing coeducation  and  advocating  the  higher 
education  of  woman,  and  at  the  last  meeting 
of  this  club  he  appeared  as  the  champion  of 


84    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

early  marriage.  Now,  if  Miinsterberg  proves 
anything  in  his  article,  it  is  that  the  chief  ob- 
stacle to  early  marriage  in  this  country  is  the 
higher  education  of  woman.  Since  you  have 
all  taken  to  quoting  Miinsterberg,  you  will 
not,  I  suppose,  object  to  my  reading  a  passage 
from  him.* 

**  '  Coeducation  means  only  equality;  but 
the  so-called  higher  education  for  girls  means, 
under  the  conditions  of  American  life  of 
to-day,  decidedly  not  the  equality,  but  the  su- 
periority of  women.  In  Germany,  even  the 
best  educated  woman — with  the  exception 
once  more  of  the  few  rare  and  ambitious 
scholars — feels  her  education  inferior  to  that 
of  the  young  man  of  the  same  set,  and  thus 
inferior  to  the  mental  training  of  her  probable 
husband.  The  foundations  of  his  knowledge 
lie  deeper,  and  the  whole  structure  is  built  up 
in  a  more  systematic  way.  This  is  true  of 
every  one  who  has  passed  through  a  gymna- 
sium, and  how  much  more  is  it  true  of  those 
who  have  gone  through  the  university !  Law, 
*Op.  cit.  pp.  615,  616. 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    85 

medicine,  divinity,  engineering,  and  the  aca- 
demic studies  of  the  prospective  teacher  are  in 
Germany  all  based  essentially  upon  a  scholarly 
training,  and  are  thus,  first  of  all,  factors  of 
general  education, — powers  to  widen  the  hori- 
zon of  the  intellect.  All  this  is  less  true  in 
America;  the  lawyer,  the  physician,  the 
teacher,  the  engineer,  obtain  excellent  prepa- 
ration for  the  profession:  but  in  a  lower 
degree  his  studies  continue  his  general  culture 
and  education ;  and  the  elective  system  allows 
him  to  anticipate  the  professional  training  even 
in  college.  And,  on  the  other  side,  as  for  the 
business  man  who  may  have  gone  through  col- 
lege with  a  general  education  in  view — how 
much,  or  better,  how  little  of  his  culture  can 
be  kept  alive?  Commerce  and  industry, 
finance  and  politics  absorb  him,  and  the  beau- 
tiful college  time  becomes  a  dream;  the  intel- 
lectual energies,  the  factors  of  general  culture 
become  rusty  from  disuse;  while  she,  the  for- 
tunate college  girl,  remains  in  that  atmosphere 
of  mental  interests  and  inspiration  where  the 
power  she  has  gained  remains  fresh  through 


86     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

contact  with  books.  The  men  read  newspa- 
pers, and,  after  a  while,  just  when  the  time  for 
marriage  approaches,  she  is  his  superior, 
through  and  through,  in  intellectual  refine- 
ment and  spiritual  standards.  And  all  this 
we  claim  in  the  case  of  the  man  who  has  had 
a  college  education;  but  the  probability  is  very 
great  that  he  has  not  had  even  that.  The  re- 
sult is  a  marriage  in  which  the  woman  looks 
down  upon  the  culture  of  her  husband;  and, 
as  the  girl  instinctively  feels  that  it  is  torture 
to  be  the  wife  of  a  man  whom  she  does  not 
respect,  she  hesitates,  and  waits,  and  shrinks 
before  the  thought  of  entering  upon  a  union 
that  has  so  few  charms.' 

*'It  seems  quite  clear  that  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  woman  is  the  one  great  menace  to  our 
social  existence.  It  prevents  marriage  until 
people  are  too  old  to  enjoy  each  other,  to 
found  permanent  homes,  or  to  raise  families; 
and  to  those  who  will  not  heed  the  warning, 
and  rashly  enter  the  marriage  state,  it  brings 
misery  for  which  the  divorce  court  seems  to 
be  the  only  relief.     Labor  troubles,  mergers 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    87 

and  frenzied  finance  compared  with  this  are 
but  symptoms  of  transitory  social  disorders. 
They  bring  to  the  surface  evils  that  may  be 
remedied  by  proper  legislation,  but  the  higher 
education  of  woman  seems  to  portend  the 
rapid  extinction  of  the  race  itself." 

**One  is  hardly  prepared  for  a  flippant  treat- 
ment of  so  serious  a  subject  as  this  from  a  so- 
ciologist," remarked  Miss  Ruth. 

*^During  all  the  long  ages  of  our  growing 
civilization,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  **man  mo- 
nopolized higher  education,  nor  did  he  seem 
to  find  in  this  inequahty  of  equals  any  cause 
for  delaying  marriage  until  the  fires  of  youth 
were  covered  by  the  ashes  of  two  score  years. 
The  undisputed  superiority  of  man  in  the 
fields  of  culture  and  of  higher  education  does 
not  seem  to  have  loomed  up  largely  as  a  source 
of  wedded  infelicity.  Even  if  the  future 
should  witness  a  reversal  of  this  condition  and 
woman  should  become  man's  superior  from 
a  cultural  point  of  view,  it  is  not  easy  to  find 
in  this  any  good  and  sufficient  reason  why  we 
should  not  possess  our  souls  in  peace.     Since 


88     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

education  in  all  its  phases  develops  and  refines 
natural  instincts,  the  higher  the  education  and 
culture  of  woman  are  carried,  the  more  worthy 
they  will  render  her  of  marriage  and  of 
motherhood." 

"As  I  understand  it,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien, 
**higher  education  makes  a  woman  a  better 
wife  and  mother,  provided  she  is  married  to 
the  right  kind  of  man.  *Aye,  there's  the  rub' 
— to  find  the  right  husband  for  her.  During 
many  years  after  the  termination  of  his 
school  life  the  young  man  is  kept  so  busy  down 
on  earth,  looking  after  the  substantial,  get- 
ting together  the  brick  and  mortar,  and  lining 
the  nest,  that  when  at  last  he  turns  to  look 
for  his  mate  it  is  not  consoling  to  him  to  be 
told  that  the  companions  of  his  childhood 
have  soared  on  the  wings  of  education  into 
the  higher  regions  of  culture  where  he  may 
never  hope  to  follow.  If  he  should  ever  suc- 
ceed in  capturing  one  of  them,  he  mustn't  hope 
to  domesticate  her  in  the  home  that  he  has 
labored  so  long  to  build.  She  will  either 
pine  for  the  freedom  that  she  has  lost  and 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    89 

die  of  a  broken  heart,  or  fly  away  with  him 
into  her  own  native  element.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  there  are  so  few  college  men  who 
are  willing  to  run  the  risk  of  being  domesti- 
cated to  a  superior  woman.  In  her  willing- 
ness to  sacrifice  herself  she  will  coach  him  for 
an  hour  or  two  in  the  evening  before  going 
out  into  society  so  that  she  may  keep  him 
from  making  ^breaks'  and  disgracing  her  in 
the  eyes  of  her  cultured  companions.  It  is 
quite  angelic  of  her  to  condescend  to  write  his 
speeches  for  him  and  to  help  him  form  his 
opinions  on  matters  of  current  interest,  but 
somehow  man  doesn't  thrive  under  these  con- 
ditions. Mr.  Smith  was  a  very  different  man 
from  Mrs.  Smith's  husband." 

*^College  graduates,"  said  Mr.  Eaton, 
"are  not  the  only  men  who  are  suffering  from 
the  higher  education  of  women.  The  rural 
population  amongst  whom  I  spent  my  boy- 
hood days  suffered  very  severely  from  the 
over-education  of  the  young  women.  Very 
few  of  the  young  men  enjoyed  the  opportu- 
nity of  getting  a  college  education;  while,  with 


90     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

the  first  wave  of  prosperity  that  reached  the 
neighborhood,  the  mothers  sent  their  daugh- 
ters off  to  convent  schools.  The  boys  were 
kept  at  home  to  work  the  farms.  Of  course 
it  would  have  been  unreasonable  to  expect  the 
young  ladies  to  go  back  to  the  country  and  be- 
come farmers'  wives.  They  made  acquaint- 
ances in  the  cities  and  married  young  clerks 
who  knew  how  to  dress  and  wax  their  mus- 
taches. The  young  men,  confronted  with  the 
necessity  of  finding  wives  in  the  lower  ranks 
of  society  or  remaining  bachelors,  sought  con- 
solation in  the  village  saloon  and  ended,  in 
too  many  cases,  by  drifting  into  the  cities  and 
increasing  the  army  of  the  unemployed." 

**It  seems  to  me,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  **that 
one  may  admit  the  evils  which  are  said  to 
flow  from  the  present  inequality  in  the  distri- 
bution of  culture  without  becoming  quite 
hopeless  of  the  ultimate  salvation  of  our  race. 
Symmetry  is  a  fundamental  law  of  life  and 
all  violations  of  it  entail  severe  penalties.  The 
individual  who  misses  symmetry  in  his  devel- 
opment need  never  hope  to  reach  the  highest 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    9 1 

planes  of  life.  The  whole  man  must  grow 
simultaneously.  An  over-development  of  any 
one  faculty  is  likely  to  interfere  seriously  with 
the  health  and  happiness  of  the  individual. 
This  law  of  symmetrical  development  is  as 
rigid  in  its  application  to  the  development  of 
society  as  it  is  to  the  development  of  the  indi- 
vidual life.  It  was  decreed  from  the  begin- 
ning that  man  and  wife  should  no  longer  be 
two  separate  units,  but  two  in  one  flesh.  It  is 
evident,  therefore,  that  all  unbalanced  tenden- 
cies in  the  development  of  this  dual  unity  must 
lead  to  suffering  and  limit  growth. 

**The  history  of  all  the  great  civilizations 
of  the  past  gives  us  a  picture  of  man  and  wife 
laboring  under  this  difficulty.  Man  held  the 
ascendancy  and  attempted  to  Hft  himself  to 
the  highest  plane  of  culture,  while,  for  the 
most  part,  he  neglected  the  cultural  develop- 
ment of  his  wife.  When  we  come  to  under- 
stand more  thoroughly  the  causes  of  the  rise 
and  fall  of  nations  and  of  empires,  we  will 
probably  realize  that  this  want  of  symmetry 
in  the  mental  and  moral  development  of  the 


92    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

sexes  has  played  no  inconsiderable  part  in  the 
extinction  of  antique  civilizations.  One  of  the 
strongest  elements  in  Christian  civilization  has 
resulted  from  the  position  which  Christianity 
accords  to  woman.  Christian  marriage  recog- 
nizes the  equality  of  man  and  woman.  And  if 
Christian  civilization  has  failed  to  develop 
man  as  rapidly  as  might  have  been  expected 
from  the  purity  and  elevation  of  its  teaching, 
the  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the  strength 
of  inherited  tendencies.  One  of  the  slowest 
of  these  tendencies  to  yield  to  the  influence  of 
Christian  teaching  was  that  deeply  ingrained 
masculine  conceit  which  refused  to  recognize 
in  woman  a  capacity  for  cultural  development 
equal  to  that  of  man." 

**Now  you  seem  to  be  talking  sensibly,'' 
said  Professor  Shannon,  **but  the  inevitable 
conclusion  of  your  argument  is  the  best  pos- 
sible refutation  of  the  position  that  you  have 
maintained  all  along  on  the  question  of  coedu- 
cation. If  symmetry  and  balance  in  the  cul- 
tural development  of  the  sexes  are  the  ideals 
toward  which  we  must  strive,  then  coeduca- 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    93 

tion,  not  segregation,  must  be  the  line  along 
which  we  should  travel. 

*Trom  your  own  admission,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  race  has  been  retarded  during  all 
these  centuries  of  Christian  civilization  by  the 
fact  that  the  cultural  development  of  man  was 
superior  to  that  of  woman;  and  the  present 
tendency,  which  is  lifting  the  cultural  devel- 
opment of  woman  above  that  of  man,  is  gen- 
erally conceded  to  be  a  prolific  source  of  social 
evil  of  the  gravest  character.  In  the  face  of 
truths  like  these  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  un- 
derstand how  you  can  take  the  position  that 
you  do  in  opposition  to  coeducation,  which 
would  tend  to  keep  the  sexes  on  the  same 
plane,  and  in  support  of  segregation,  which 
during  all  the  long  centuries  of  race  develop- 
ment has  militated  against  the  progress  of 
the  race." 

*That  is  the  difficulty  with  you  sociolo- 
gists," said  Dr.  Studevan.  ^Terhaps  it  is  due 
to  the  embryonic  condition  of  your  science; 
but,  whatever  be  the  cause,  you  seem  to  run 
off  with  half-baked  conclusions.     My  opposi- 


94     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

tion  to  coeducation  was  In  no  instance  based 
on  a  desire  for  inequality  in  the  education  of 
the  sexes.  In  all  our  conversations  I  have 
steadfastly  maintained  that  the  aim  of  true 
education  should  be  the  fullest  development 
of  all  the  powers  and  faculties  of  the  indi- 
vidual. 

**A  sociologist  might  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  understand  that  men  and  women 
were  not  designed  by  nature  to  be  the  dupli- 
cates of  each  other.  They  differ  from  each 
other  profoundly  in  nature,  in  developmental 
tendencies  and  in  social  functions.  I  oppose 
coeducation  because  it  seems  to  me  to  be  based 
on  ignorance  of  these  elemental  truths.  It 
means  for  the  most  part  the  subjecting  of  our 
girls  to  educational  methods  which  were  de- 
vised to  meet  the  needs  of  men,  and  which, 
as  a  consequence,  fail  to  develop  the  best  that 
is  in  woman. 

*^If  the  scene  of  coeducation  were  shifted 
from  the  schools  which  were  designed  pri- 
marily to  meet  man's  needs  into  convent 
schools  and    academies,    whose   courses    and 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    95 

methods  grew  out  of  the  needs  of  women, 
how  long  do  you  suppose  our  young  men 
would  tolerate  the  situation?  They  would 
not  submit  to  methods,  however  well  adapted 
to  meet  women's  needs,  which  failed  so  com- 
pletely to  harmonize  with  the  forces  in  their 
own  natures.  Whatever  other  results  may  be 
produced  by  subjecting  our  girls  to  the  cur- 
riculum and  methods  which  were  devised  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  masculine  nature,  it  is 
perfectly  certain  that  equality  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  sexes  cannot  be  obtained  in  this 
way. 

*Would  the  advocates  of  coeducation  have 
us  believe  that  the  reason  for  the  superiority 
of  man's  education  in  the  past  is  to  be  found 
in  the  long  prevalence  of  segregation?  Do 
they  imply  that  women's  schools  are  incapable 
of  improvement  or  of  further  development? 
Can  woman  find  in  herself  no  elements  of 
progress  ?  And  must  she  forever  turn  to  man 
and  beg  him  to  carry  her  forward  over  every 
step  of  the  way?  The  prevalence  of  such 
views  is  a    further   evidence   of  the   general 


96     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

need  of  biological  training.  Adjustment  of 
internal  to  external  relations  is  an  inalienable 
right  and  a  primal  function  of  all  living  be- 
ings. Whenever  an  external  agency  is  intro- 
duced to  bring  about  this  adjustment,  degen- 
eracy is  the  inevitable  result.  Woman  must 
work  out  her  own  salvation  in  her  own  way. 
All  that  man  should  be  expected  to  do — all 
that  he  can  do  without  injury  to  her — is  to 
provide  the  external  means  and  conditions; 
the  actual  adjustment  must  come  from  woman 
herself.^' 

'*Studevan  must  have  had  a  training  at  the 
bar,"  said  Professor  Shannon;  '*he  has  evi- 
dently learned  to  talk  all  around  a  subject 
when  the  evidence  is  against  him.  It  is  ad- 
mitted on  all  sides  that  during  the  long  ages 
when  segregation  prevailed  the  result  was  an 
unbalancing  of  the  education  of  the  sexes, 
which,  even  he  was  constrained  to  admit, 
played  an  important  role  in  retarding  the  de- 
velopment of  the  race.  And  now,  under  sim- 
ilar conditions,  there  has  resulted  an  unbal- 
ancing in  which  the  superiority  of  woman's 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    97 

education  threatens  the  very  existence  of  the 
race.  Segregation  seems  to  lead  to  very  poor 
team  work. 

**The  Doctor  has  been  very  careful  to  avoid 
pointing  out  any  way  by  which  equality  may 
be  preserved  in  the  education  of  men  and 
women  who  are  segregated  during  the  whole 
period  of  individual  development.  And  he 
makes  a  beautiful  play  for  the  support  of  the 
ladies  by  advocating  the  higher  education  of 
woman  at  a  time  when  this  same  higher  edu- 
cation of  woman  is  causing  the  gravest  alarm 
to  all  those  who  are  interested  in  the  welfare 
of  the  race.'' 

^Trofessor  Miinsterberg  is  quite  right," 
said  Miss  Ruth,  *  Vhen  he  insists  that  a  mar- 
riage in  which  the  woman  looks  down  upon 
the  culture  of  her  husband  is  not  a  success. 
Every  refined  woman  must  feel  it  torture  to  be 
the  wife  of  a  man  whom  she  does  not  respect, 
and  this  consideration,  without  doubt,  is  no 
inconsiderable  factor,  at  present,  in  delaying 
marriage  and  in  rendering  it  less  frequent 
among  our  highly  educated  women;  but  the 


98     The  Education  of  Our   Girls 

remedy  for  this  Is  surely  not  to  be  found  in 
retarding  the  cultural  development  of  woman. 

**0n  the  contrary,  this  state  of  things  should 
act  as  a  spur  to  man  and  thus  help  to  keep 
him  from  being  submerged  in  commercialism 
and  in  the  gross  materialism  of  the  day.  Our 
young  men  are  surely  not  so  dead  to  all  the 
higher  things  of  life  that  they  will  cease  to 
strive  to  become  more  worthy  of  the  esteem 
and  love  of  cultured  women." 

**I  hope,"  said  Dr.Studevan,**that  the  ladies 
do  not  take  it  for  granted  that  Shannon  reflects 
the  sentiments  of  all  our  young  men.  In  the 
progress  of  civilization  there  may  always  be 
discerned  two  parties.  One  of  these  opposes, 
on  some  pretext  or  other,  every  advance,  every 
progressive  movement  of  society.  The  mem- 
bers of  this  group  never  seem  to  understand 
that  life  in  all  its  phases  is  governed  by  an 
inexorable  law  which  inflicts  the  death  penalty 
on  all  who  do  not  move  forward.  The  saints 
and  the  great  masters  of  the  spiritual  life 
never  ceased  to  urge  this  truth  upon  their  fol- 
lowers.    Over  and  over  again  they  warned 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    99 

them  that  not  to  go  forward  on  the  path  of 
holiness  is  to  enter  upon  the  downward  way. 
And  the  biologist  traces  the  beginnings  of  de- 
generacy in  every  form  of  life  to  the  moment 
when  the  species  ceased  to  advance. 

**Our  Lord  is  the  great  leader  of  the  pro- 
gressive party.  *Lift  up  your  eyes,  for  the 
kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand.'  'Follow  Me  and 
let  the  dead  bury  their  dead.'  *Those  who 
put  their  hand  to  the  plow  and  look  back  are 
not  worthy  of  Me.'  *I  have  many  things  to 
say  to  you  but  you  cannot  bear  them  now.' 
*To  what  is  the  kingdom  of  God  like  and 
whereunto  shall  I  resemble  it  ?  It  is  like  unto 
a  grain  of  mustard  seed  which  a  man  took  and 
cast  into  his  garden  and  it  grew  and  became 
a  great  tree.'  AH  His  teaching  bade  Israel  go 
forward  into  the  newness  of  life,  into  the  free- 
dom of  love  and  into  the  peace  of  the  king- 
dom. 'You  have  heard  .  .  .  but  I  say  to 
you  .  .  .'  and  again,  'The  letter  killeth,  it 
is  the  spirit  that  giveth  life.'  The  Scribe  and 
the  Pharisee,  with  their  eyes  turned  to  the 
past,  were  unable  to  see  the  beauty  which  He 


loo   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

pointed  out;  and,  with  their  ears  filled  with 
the  voice  of  the  Prophets,  they  failed  to  hear 
the  great  truths  which  He  spoke  to  them  and 
their  hate  went  out  to  Him  and  nailed  Him  to 
the  cross. 

'*We  do  not  wonder  that  those  who  came 
after  Him  met  with  similar  treatment 
^Therefore,  behold,  I  send  to  you  Prophets 
and  wise  men  and  Scribes :  and  some  of  them 
you  will  put  to  death  and  crucify,  and  some 
you  will  scourge  in  your  synagogues,  and  per- 
secute from  city  to  city:  that  upon  you  may 
come  the  blood  of  all  the  just  that  has  been 
shed  upon  the  earth  from  the  blood  of  Abel 
the  just  to  the  blood  of  Zacharias,  the  son  of 
Barachias,  whom  you  killed  between  the  tem- 
ple and  the  altar/  The  leaders  in  the  way  of 
life  have  ever  been  the  victims  of  the  malice 
and  the  hatred  of  the  ignorant  and  the  slug- 
gard in  their  own  generation,  and  they  have 
been  the  saints  and  martyrs  of  all  subsequent 
generations. 

**In  the  history  of  Christian  civilization  we 
occasionally  find  a  woman  in  the  van  of  some 


Cultural  Development  of  the  Sexes    i  o  i 

progressive  movement ;  nor  is  Jeanne  d' Arc  a 
solitary  instance  of  the  penalty  which  such 
women  pay  for  the  privilege  of  serving  their 
people.  No  one  need  therefore  be  surprised 
that  a  heavy  penalty  is  being  inflicted  upon 
woman  in  our  day  for  her  rashness  in  assum- 
ing a  position  in  the  forefront  of  the  cultural 
development  of  our  time.  But  her  courage 
will  not  fail  her.  The  ignorant  and  the  reac- 
tionaire,  with  the  whole  company  of  those 
who  are  so  much  exercised  over  the  New 
Woman  and  the  Higher  Education  of  Woman 
and  Woman's  Rights,  will  disappear,  and  the 
future  will  bless  woman's  memory  and  record 
how  she  lifted  man  up  from  earth  by  the 
beauty  of  her  life  and  the  example  of  her 
noble  courage  in  holding  fast  to  that  which  is 
good." 

**Won't  some  one  please  pass  round  the 
hat?"  said  Mr.  Eaton. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Man  and  Woman  Allies — Not  Competitors 

**Dr.  Studevan,"  said  Mr.  Eaton,  **what 
have  you  done  with  Shannon?  Have  you 
*mingled  his  blood  with  the  blood  of  all  the 
just  that  has  been  shed  upon  the  earth  from 
the  blood  of  Abel  the  just  to  the  blood  of 
Zacharias?'  " 

**No,  it's  not  so  bad  as  that,"  said  Mr. 
O'Brien.  **The  Professor  telephoned  a  little 
while  ago  that  he  would  be  late  in  arriving. 
Dr.  Studevan  did  seem  to  pick  up  the  question 
under  discussion  at  the  close  of  our  last  meet- 
ing and  fly  off  with  it.  He  got  it  so  mixed 
up  with  prophets  and  apostles,  with  Jeanne 
d'Arc  and  the  martyrs,  that  I  don't  know 
where  we  shall  find  it.  But  here  is  Shannon 
now,  perhaps  he  has  it  in  charge." 

**No,  thank  God,  I  have  nothing  in  charge 
but  myself;  what  is  it  you've  lost?" 


Man  and  Woman  Allies       103 

**  Coeducation  versus  the  Higher  Education 
of  Woman/'  said  Miss  Ruth.  *'Dr.  Studevan 
has  just  been  accused  of  having  soared  away 
with  it  into  the  clouds,  and  we  hoped  that  you 
had  rescued  it  and  brought  it  back  to  us,  as 
there  are  several  phases  of  the  question  which 
still  need  illumination." 

**0h,''  said  Professor  Shannon,  "Studevan 
is  so  buried  in  the  schoolroom  and  in  his  peda- 
gogical theories  that  he  fails  to  see  what  must 
be  evident  to  every  one  else  who  keeps  abreast 
of  the  times.  The  Doctor  needs  a  training  in 
sociology  and  economics  and  a  little  more  con- 
tact with  the  world  where  adults  are  engaged 
in  the  struggle  for  existence.  He  would  have 
woman  remain  in  the  schools  that  from  time 
immemorial  fitted  her  to  adorn  the  home.  He 
evidently  does  not  realize  that  to-day  woman 
is  compelled  to  engage  in  many  occupations 
that  man  has  heretofore  regarded  as  exclu- 
sively his  own  and  for  which  he  was  trained 
in  the  college  and  university.  It  must  be  evi- 
dent to  all  familiar  with  the  facts  in  the  case 
that  the  proper  place  for  woman  to  receive  a 


104    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

training  for  these  positions  is  in  the  schools 
that  have  been  developed  for  this  purpose." 

*We  are  still  confronted  with  the  old  puz- 
zle," said  Miss  Ruth.  **Dr.  Studevan  is  so 
impressed  with  the  difference  between  the  na- 
tures of  man  and  woman  that  he  seems  unable 
to  reconcile  himself  to  their  being  trained  in 
the  same  schools  and  subjected  to  the  same 
methods;  while  Professor  Shannon,  believing 
that  the  old  distinction  between  the  occupa- 
tions of  the  sexes  has,  in  large  measure,  ceased 
to  exist,  would  have  both  sexes  educated  in  the 
same  schools.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  two 
sides  of  the  question  may  be  reconciled." 

**There  is  only  one  side  to  the  question," 
said  Miss  Geddes.  *We  were  all  born  free 
and  equal.  Man  has  kept  woman  out  of  her 
rights  long  enough.  In  a  country  that  grants 
freedom  to  the  negro,  woman  can  no  longer 
be  kept  in  subjection.  If  her  education  in  the 
past  has  not  fitted  her  to  enjoy  equal  rights 
with  man,  she  is  determined  that  in  the  future 
she  will  have  an  education  which  will  not 
only  secure  her  an  equal  right  to  vote  and  to 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        105 

make  the  laws  under  which  she,  as  well  as 
man,  must  live,  but  which  will  secure  for  her 
an  equal  share  of  the  growing  wealth  of  the 
country.  She  distinctly  refuses  to  be  any 
longer  handicapped  by  a  one-sided  education.'' 
**This  whole  discussion,''  said  Mr.  O'Brien, 
**reminds  me  of  Merrick's  ^Chameleon,'  which 
we  used  to  recite  as  school  boys.  I  still  re- 
member some  of  the  lines : 

"  *Oft  has  it  been  my  lot  to  mark 
A  proud,  conceited,  talking  spark, 
With  eyes  that  hardly  served  at  most 
To  guard  their  master  'gainst  a  post; 
Yet  round  the  world  the  blade  has  been, 
To  see  whatever  could  be  seen. 

*Two  travelers  of  such  a  cast. 
As  o'er  Arabia's  wilds  they  passed, 

♦  *  *  :|c  ♦ 

Discoursed  awhile,  'mongst  other  matter. 

Of  the  chameleon's  form  and  nature. 
***** 

**How  slow  its  pace !  and  then  it's  hue — 
Who  ever  saw  so  fine  a  blue !" — 


io6     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

**Hold  there/'  the  other  quick  replies, 
*^  'Tis  green;  I  saw  it  with  these  eyes/' 

9|C  3|C  3JC  3fK  3|C 

**rve  seen  it,  sir,  as  well  as  you. 
And  must  again  affirm  it  blue." 

9|C  9|C  3|C  SfC  9|C 

"  'Tis  green,  'tis  green,  sir,  I  assure  ye." 
**Green!"  cries  the  other  in  a  fury: 
*Why,  sir,  d'ye  think  I've  lost  my  eyes?" 

**  'Twere  no  great  loss,"  the  friend  replies; 
*Tor  if  they  always  serve  you  thus, 
You'll  find  them  of  but  little  use." 

When,  luckily,  came  by  a  third: 
To  him  the  question  they  referred. 
And  begged  he'd  tell  them,  if  he  knew. 
Whether  the  thing  was  green  or  blue. 

n*  ^  ^  1*  ^ 

"Sirs,"    cries    the    umpire,    '*cease    your 

pother, 
The  creature's  neither  one  nor  t'other. 
I  caught  the  animal  last  night, 
And  viewed  it  o'er  by  candle  light; 
I  marked  it  well,  'twas  black  as  jet." 

4e  ♦  sK  3|e  ♦ 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        107 

**  *He  said:  and  full  before  their  sight 
Produced  the  beast,  and  lo ! — 'twas  white. 

"  *Both  stared;  the  man  looked  wondrous 
wise: 
**My  children,"  the  chameleon  cries, 
"You  all  are  right,  and  all  are  wrong : 
When  next  you  talk  of  what  you  view, 
Think  others  see  as  well  as  you: 
Nor  wonder  if  you  find  that  none 
Prefers  your  eyesight  to  his  own.'  " 

"Your  chameleon  story  is  entirely  irrele- 
vant," said  Miss  Geddes.  "In  the  present  in- 
stance we  are  confronted  by  conditions,  not 
theories.  Whether  the  beautiful,  clinging 
creature  of  the  past,  of  whom  the  poets  sang, 
was  a  more  ideal  wife  than  the  strong,  inde- 
pendent woman  of  our  own  day  may  be  left 
to  men's  discussion  at  their  clubs  and  smokers, 
but  woman  must  reach  a  conclusion  and  act 
upon  it.  She  must  enter  into  active  competi- 
tion with  man  in  the  professions,  in  trade,  in 
commerce,  and  in  all  fields  of  human  industry. 
She  has  no  room  for  hesitation  between  the 


io8   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

education  that  fitted  her  for  the  position  which 
she  occupied  in  the  past  and  the  education 
which  is  at  present  being  given  to  her  com- 
petitors. The  advocates  of  segregation  seem 
to  be  dreaming  of  conditions  which  have 
passed  away  forever,  or  else  they  are  dishon- 
est enough  to  wish  to  take  an  unfair  advantage 
of  woman  by  trying  to  induce  her  to  enter  the 
field  of  competition  with  a  pitiably  inadequate 
preparation." 

*'My  dear  Miss  Geddes,"  said  Dr.  Stude- 
van,  **I  am  the  last  man  in  the  world  who 
would  contribute  in  any  way  to  the  handicap- 
ping of  woman  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 

*The  profound  changes  which  are  taking 
place  at  present  in  the  social  and  economic 
conditions  of  the  country  are  pressing  very 
heavily  on  both  sexes ;  and  I  believe  the  pres- 
sure of  this  change  is  more  severe  upon 
woman  than  it  is  upon  man.  All  phases  of 
education  for  both  sexes  must  be  readjusted 
so  as  to  properly  equip  men  and  women  for 
these  new  conditions.  I  have  never  advocated 
a    continuance    of   educational   methods    for 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        109 

either  sex  which  were  shaped  to  meet  con- 
ditions that  have  ceased  to  exist,  but  surely  one 
may  recognize  this  need  of  change  in  educa- 
tional ideals  and  in  educational  methods  with- 
out thereby  advocating  an  identity  of  ideals  or 
of  methods  in  the  training  of  pupils  who  differ 
from  each  other  in  nature,  in  developmental 
tendencies  and  in  social  functions,  and  who 
are,  after  all,  destined  to  occupy  different 
ground  in  the  struggle  for  existence. 

*^A  fundamental  law  of  life  seems  to  be 
ignored  by  those  who  talk  most  about  compe- 
tition between  man  and  woman.  The  little 
green  puddles  by  the  roadside  are  crowded 
with  living  beings,  but  they  are  not  all  com- 
petitors. The  plant  forms,  to  which  it  owes 
its  green  color,  live  upon  the  carbon  dioxide 
and  nitrogenous  waste  matter,  both  of  which 
are  supplied  in  large  measure  by  minute  ani- 
mals, while  these  animals  in  turn  depend  upon 
the  oxygen  and  food  material  supplied  by  the 
plants.  These  creatures  are  allies  and  not 
competitors  in  the  struggle  for  existence; 
neither  could  long  continue  to  live  without  the 


1 1  o   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

other.  Plant  competes  with  plant  and  animal 
with  animal.  Competition  always  presup- 
poses an  identity  of  function. 

**Man  and  woman  can  never  be  competitors 
in  any  true  sense  of  the  word;  they  were  so 
formed  by  nature  as  to  be  indispensable  to 
each  other.  The  competition  between  them 
is  superficial  and  accidental.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, of  course,  that  confusion  prevails  in 
periods  of  social  upheaval  and  violent  eco- 
nomic change.  When  the  atmosphere  clears, 
woman  will  be  found  occupying  a  somewhat 
different  position  from  that  which  she  has 
occupied  in  the  past,  and  man  will  still 
find  abundant  room  to  live;  and  the  mutual 
helpfulness  of  the  sexes  will  go  on  as 
of  old. 

*The  readjustment  of  educational  methods 
is  one  of  the  most  serious  problems  which 
confront  us  to-day,  and  it  should  be  ap- 
proached with  calmness  and  with  an  entire  ab- 
sence of  partisan  feeling.  The  conditions  of 
the  environment  into  which  the  pupils  must 
enter  on  leaving  school  should  be  kept  con- 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        1 1 1 

stantly  In  mind  by  those  who  undertake  to 
guide  the  unfolding  life  of  the  pupil.  The 
problems  presented  to  a  young  woman  on  en- 
tering into  the  life  of  one  of  our  cities  to-day 
are  very  different  from  those  presented  to  a 
young  man.  His  equipment  would  not  enable 
her  to  solve  her  problems.  From  whatever 
point  you  view  the  matter,  whether  it  be  from 
the  differences  of  nature  or  the  differences  In 
the  positions  which  they  occupy  In  the  struggle 
for  existence,  the  conclusion  would  seem  to  be 
that  the  education  of  the  sexes  should  be  car- 
ried out  along  different  lines.  It  Is  hard  to 
realize  how  any  one  who  understands  the  ele- 
mental truth  that  man  and  woman  are  by  na- 
ture and  function  allies  and  not  competitors 
In  the  struggle  for  existence  could  doubt  this 
conclusion." 

''That  reminds  me  of  a  good  story  I  once 
heard,"  said  Miss  Ruth,  ''about  a  little  bird 
called  the  Trochilus  and  its  partnership  with 
the  crocodile.  'The  Trochilus  renders  two 
forms  of  service  to  the  crocodile  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile ;  It  enters  his  mouth  and  dispatches 


112    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

the  worms  and  leeches  which  trouble  him,  and 
when  the  ichneumon,  which  is  an  enemy  to 
the  crocodile,  approaches,  the  bird  flies  away, 
giving  vent  to  a  peculiar  cry  which  apprises 
his  friend  of  the  danger.  The  only  service 
which  the  crocodile  renders  in  return  is  the 
shaking  of  his  tail  when  he  wishes  to  close  his 
mouth,  thus  giving  the  bird  warning.'  " 

*'Well,''  said  Mr.  O'Brien,  **the  coeduca- 
tion— or  rather  the  cooperation — Herodotus 
illustrates  in  this  story  has  at  least  this  in  its 
favor,  that  it  terminates  in  an  indissoluble 
union ;  and,  all  present  indications  to  the  con- 
trary, there  does  seem  to  be  something  in  the 
hidden  depths  of  woman's  nature  that  is  not 
particularly  averse  to  such  combinations." 

'*0h,  of  course,"  said  Miss  Geddes,  **the 
women  of  our  day  should  devoutly  accept 
Emile  as  their  gospel.  I  marked  a  passage 
this  afternoon  which  should  be  a  wellspring 
of  consolation  to  us.  Let  me  read  it  for  you. 
*On  the  good  constitution  of  mothers  depends 
that  of  children;  on  the  care  of  woman  de- 
pends the  first  education  of  men;  on  woman 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        1 1 3 

depend  again  their  manners,  their  passions, 
their  tastes,  their  pleasures,  and  even  their 
happiness.  Thus  all  the  education  of  women 
ought  to  be  relative  to  men.  To  please  them, 
to  be  useful  to  them,  to  make  themselves  loved 
and  honored  by  them,  to  bring  them  up  when 
young,  to  care  for  them  when  grown,  to  coun- 
sel and  console  them,  to  render  their  life 
agreeable  and  sweet — these  are  the  duties  of 
women  in  every  age,  and  what  they  ought  to 
learn  from  their  childhood.  So  long  as  we 
do  not  recognize  this  principle,  we  shall  miss 
the  end,  and  all  the  precepts  we  give  them 
will  be  of  no  service  either  for  their  happiness 
or  ours.'  " 

'*Is  that  idea  so  far  wrong?''  asked  Dr. 
Studevan.  *^You  know  the  Gospel  tells  us 
that  we  should  love  our  enemies  and  do  good 
to  those  who  hate  us  and  pray  for  those  who 
persecute  and  calumniate  us;  and  then,  the 
likeness  of  his  Maker  is  brought  out  in  man's 
heart  just  in  proportion  as  he  learns  to  act 
from  unselfish  motives.  In  *the  ape  and  tiger' 
world  and  in  the  world  of  Trenzied  Finance' 


1 1 4   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

self-interest  rules  supreme,  but  in  the  kingdom 
of  God  man  finds  the  secret  of  happiness  in 
the  service  of  others.  Now,  woman  being  the 
divinest  creature  on  earth,  we  are  prepared 
to  find  her  ready  to  immolate  herself  in  every 
way  and  on  all  occasions.  She  should  be  grate- 
ful to  man  for  his  generosity  in  supplying  her 
with  abundant  opportunities  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  divine  impulses  of  her  na- 
ture." 

'Isn't  it  about  time.  Doctor,"  said  Miss 
Ruth,  **that  woman  gave  man  an  opportunity 
to  immolate  himself  on  the  altar  of  sacrifice, 
and  thus  to  render  himself  worthy  to  dwell  on 
the  same  plane  with  her?  She  has  had 
a  monopoly  in  this  direction  long  enough. 
But  all  this  does  not  seem  to  have  much  to  do 
with  coeducation.  This  is  a  practical  age. 
The  experiment  in  coeducation  is  being  made 
and  should  we  not  rest  the  verdict  on  re- 
sults?" 

*Tes,  I  suppose  we  should,"  said  Dr.  Stu- 
devan,  ''but  it  is  not  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  education  that  the  experiment  has  been 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        115 

tried.  Plato  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  co- 
education and  he,  too,  reenforced  his  argu- 
ment by  appeals  to  experience.  Have  you  a 
copy  of  Plato,  Mr.  O'Brien  ?'' 

*Tes.    Which  volume  do  you  want?" 
**The  one  containing  the  *Laws.' — ^Thank 
you. — Here  is  the  passage  I  have  in  mind: 

**  *My  law  would  apply  to  females  as  well 
as  to  males;  they  shall  both  go  through  the 
same  exercises.  I  assert  without  fear  of  con- 
tradiction that  gymnastic  and  horsemanship 
are  as  suitable  to  women  as  to  men.  Of  the 
truth  of  this  I  am  persuaded  from  ancient  tra- 
dition, and  at  the  present  day  there  are  said 
to  be  myriads  of  women  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Black  Sea,  called  Sauromatides,  who 
not  only  ride  on  horseback  like  men,  but  have 
enjoined  upon  them  the  use  of  bows  and  other 
weapons  equally  with  men.  And  I  further 
affirm,  that  if  these  things  are  possible,  noth- 
ing can  be  more  absurd  than  the  practice 
which  prevails  in  our  own  country  of  men  and 
women  not  following  the  same  pursuits  with 
all  their  strength  and  with  one  mind,  and  thus 


1 1 6    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

the  state,  instead  of  being  a  whole,  is  reduced 
to  a  half,  and  yet  has  the  same  imposts  to  pay 
and  the  same  toils  to  undergo ;  and  what  can 
be  a  greater  mistake  for  any  legislator  to 
make  ?  .  .  .  I  should  wish  to  say,  Cleinias, 
as  I  said  before,  that  if  the  possibility  of  these 
things  were  not  sufficiently  proven  in  fact, 
then  there  might  be  an  objection  to  the  argu- 
ment, but  the  fact  being  as  I  have  said,  he  who 
rejects  the  law  must  find  some  other  ground  of 
objection;  and,  failing  this,  our  exhortation 
would  hold  good,  nor  will  any  one  deny  that 
women  ought  to  share  as  far  as  possible  in 
education  and  in  other  ways  with  men,  for 
consider; — if  women  do  not  share  in  their 
whole  life  with  men,  then  they  must  have 
some  other  order  of  life.  And  what  arrange- 
ment of  life  to  be  found  anywhere  is  prefer- 
able to  this  community  which  we  are  now  as- 
signing to  them.  Shall  we  prefer  that  which 
is  adopted  by  the  Thracians  and  many  other 
races  who  use  their  women  to  till  the  ground 
and  to  be  shepherds  of  their  herds  and  flocks, 
and  to  minister  to  them  like  slaves?'  " 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        117 

"I  never  before  realized,"  said  Miss  Ruth, 
*Vhat  an  important  part  the  Thracians  took 
in  the  development  of  western  civilization." 

**Say,  rather,  in  shaping  Dr.  Studevan's 
ideals  of  education,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien. 

**0n  the  contrary,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  "I 
want  man  to  mind  his  own  business  and  to 
tend  his  fields  and  flocks  himself,  leaving  to 
woman  occupations  more  suited  to  her  nature. 
My  ideal  of  education  is  more  nearly  the 
legitimate  descendant  of  those  held  by  the 
Athenians  and  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  which 
Plato  quotes  with  apparent  disapproval. 
Here  is  the  passage: 

**  *0r  shall  we  do  as  the  people  in  our  part 
of  the  world  do?  getting  together,  as  the 
phrase  is,  all  our  goods  and  chattels  into  one 
dwelling — these  we  entrust  to  our  women, 
who  are  the  stewards  of  them;  and  who  pre- 
side over  the  shuttles  and  the  whole  art  of 
spinning.  Or  shall  we  take  a  middle  course,  as 
in  Lacedaemon,  Megillus,  letting  the  girls 
share  in  gymnastic  and  music,  while  the 
grown-up  women,  no  longer  employed  in  spin- 


1 1 8    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

ning  wool,  are  actively  engaged  in  weaving 
the  web  of  life,  which  will  be  no  cheap  or 
mean  employment,  and  in  the  duty  of  serving 
and  taking  care  of  the  household  and  bringing 
up  children,  in  which  they  will  observe  a  sort 
of  mean,  not  participating  in  the  toils  of  war; 
and  if  there  were  any  necessity  that  they 
should  fight  for  their  city  and  families,  unlike 
the  Amazons,  they  would  be  unable  to  take 
part  in  archery  or  any  other  skilled  use  of 
missiles,  nor  could  they,  after  the  example  of 
the  goddess,  carry  shield  or  spear,  or  stand 
up  nobly  for  their  country  when  it  was  being 
destroyed,  and  strike  terror  into  their  enemies, 
if  only  because  they  were  seen  in  regular  or- 
der? Living  as  they  do,  they  would  never 
dare  at  all  to  imitate  the  Sauromatides,  whose 
women,  when  compared  with  ordinary  women, 
would  appear  to  be  like  men.  Let  him  who 
will  praise  your  legislators,  but  I  must  say 
what  I  think.  The  legislator  ought  to  be 
whole  and  perfect,  and  not  half  a  man  only; 
he  ought  not  to  let  the  female  sex  live  softly 
and  waste  money  and  have  no  order  of  life. 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        1 1 9 

while  he  takes  the  utmost  care  of  the  male  sex, 
and  leaves  half  of  life  only  blessed  with  hap- 
piness, when  he  might  have  made  the  whole 
state  happy.'  " 

**The  women  of  to-day,"  said  Mr.  Eaton, 
**remind  one  of  the  boy  who  paid  a  penny  for 
a  piece  of  pie,  and  after  the  pie  was  disposed 
of,  came  back  crying  for  his  penny.  If  they 
want  coeducation  and  suffrage  they  should  go 
all  the  way  and  take  a  hand  in  herding  the 
flocks  and  in  digging  the  sewers,  and  they 
should  realize  how  it  feels  to  become  food  for 
powder." 

**Your  inference  is  hardly  fair,"  said  Pro- 
fessor Shannon.  **An  education  and  an  ap- 
prenticeship to  a  trade  are  two  quite  different 
things,  and  there  is  really  no  one  in  our  midst 
to-day,  not  even  the  most  extreme  advocate  of 
woman's  rights,  who  would  want  women  to 
become  locomotive  engineers  and  miners,  or 
who  would  have  them  seek  employment  in 
smelters  or  rolling  mills.  Besides,  the  ques- 
tion of  coeducation  versus  segregation  is  con- 
cerned only  with  secondary  and  higher  edu- 


I20    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

cation,  whose  end  is  fullness  of  life  and  culture 
rather  than  immediate  preparation  for  those 
occupations  that  demand  physical  strength 
and  powers  of  endurance.  Plato  was  speaking 
of  primitive  times  and  primitive  conditions; 
life  has  grown  far  too  complex  at  present  to 
permit  of  the  realization  of  his  ideals  in  all 
their  details.  All  that  he  should  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  is  his  main  thought  and  that  is 
clearly  in  favor  of  coeducation." 

**Are  you  quite  sure,"  said  Dr.  Studevan, 
"that  Plato  is  not  here  treating  us  to  some  of 
his  delicious  sarcasm  ?  Or  is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  he  was  so  wanting  in  appreciation  of  the 
Athens  of  Pericles  that  he  would  seriously 
hold  up  the  Sauromatides  and  the  Amazons  as 
models  to  be  copied  by  the  women  of  Greece? 
I  wonder  if  it  has  become  the  fashion  among 
sociologists  to  refer  to  the  Athens  of  Pericles 
and  Plato  as  'primitive.'  Poor  Plato,  had  he 
lived  fifty  years  later  his  distinguished  pupil 
would  undoubtedly  have  acquainted  him  with 
some  of  the  fundamental  concepts  of  life 
which  would  have  saved  him  from  falling  into 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        I2i 

such  grievous  error  on  the  subject  of  coedu- 
cation. 

*'But  it  is  really  strange,  living  in  the  home 
of  Phidias  and  feasting  his  eyes  daily  on  the 
marvels  that  came  from  the  chisel  of  Prax- 
iteles, that  Plato  could  have  so  completely 
missed  the  meaning  of  symmetry  as  not  to 
know  that  man  and  woman  being  symmetrical 
parts  of  one  whole  cannot  be  substituted  one 
for  the  other.  Of  course  Plato  is  not  to  be 
blamed  for  his  failure  to  grasp  the  jfundamen- 
tal  life  principle  that  all  progress  is  dependent 
upon  progressive  differentiation  of  structure 
and  specialization  of  function.  If  this  great 
central  truth  of  modern  biology  had  gleamed 
ever  so  faintly  on  the  horizon  of  Greek 
thought,  Plato  would  never  have  lent  himself 
to  the  Sauromatides  and  the  Amazons  in  their 
struggles  to  obliterate  the  lines  of  difference 
along  which  nature  seeks  to  develop  the  sexes." 

* 'Would  it  be  troubling  you  too  much, 
Doctor,''  said  Mr.  Eaton,  **to  translate  all 
that  into  plain  English?" 

*  Why,  how  cruel  of  you,  Mr.  Eaton,"  said 


122    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

Miss  Geddes,  **to  ask  the  Doctor  to  come  out 
of  the  mists  of  biological  phrases  in  which  he 
so  loves  to  dwell,  and  in  which  he  is  seen  to 
such  advantage  this  evening  against  the  irides- 
cent background  of  Greek  culture/' 

**0n  the  contrary,  my  dear  Miss  Geddes,  it 
always  gives  me  a  thrill  of  genuine  pleasure  to 
expose  to  your  discerning  eye  the  innermost 
core  of  my  thoughts  dressed  in  the  most  trans- 
parent language  at  my  command.  The  two 
thoughts  which  Plato  would  seem  to  have 
missed  and  which  are  among  the  truths  most 
familiar  to  all  students  of  nature  are  these: 
first,  symmetrical  parts  of  a  body  are  related 
to  each  other  In  the  same  way  that  an  object 
is  related  to  Its  mirrored  reflection ;  there  Is  the 
closest  resemblance  between  them  In  one  way 
and  yet  they  are  Irreconcilably  different.  I 
am  frequently  made  aware  of  this  truth  when, 
in  my  hurry  In  the  morning,  I  get  my  right 
foot  into  my  left  shoe,  and  still  I  have  always 
believed  that  my  feet  were  mates.  Now,  man 
and  woman  are  related  to  each  other  in  their 
conscious  life  In  somewhat  the  same  way.     It 


Man  and  Woman  Allies        123 

requires  two  to  round  out  and  complete  hu- 
man consciousness. 

*TIato  seems  to  have  been  moved  by  purely 
utilitarian  motives,  as  if  he  were  wont  to  fre- 
quent ^Dollardom'  instead  of  the  Acropolis. 
He  was  evidently  anxious  to  keep  down  the 
taxes  while  adding  to  the  number  of  warriors, 
but  if  I  were  a  woman  I  would  never  forgive 
him  for  hinting  that  if  women  were  seen  in 
order  they  Vould  strike  terror  into  their  ene- 
mies.' The  poor  fellow  must  have  been  car- 
rying in  his  memory  a  vivid  picture  of  Xan- 
tippe  in  some  of  her  unlovely  moods. 

*^The  second  thought  that  seems  to  have 
offended  by  its  biological  mist  or  its  Greek 
iridescence  has  been  explained  in  so  many 
ways  that  it  really  has  come  to  be  a  common- 
place. But  it  might  be  illustrated  in  this  way : 
the  integument  of  an  earthworm  serves  both 
as  a  protection  against  foreign  substances  and 
as  an  organ  of  respiration.  Now,  the  tougher 
it  is,  the  better  it  performs  the  first  of  these 
functions,  and  the  more  delicate  it  is,  the  bet- 
ter it  performs  the  latter,  and  since  both  of 


124     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

these  functions  must  be  performed  by  one  and 
the  same  structure,  they  are  both  performed 
badly.  The  crayfish  and  the  lobster  solve  this 
problem  in  another  way.  Their  bodies  are 
encased  In  hard  outer  coverings  which  give 
efficient  protection.  A  small  portion  of  the 
outer  surface  of  these  creatures  Is  rendered 
exceedingly  delicate  and  Is  protected  under  a 
fold  of  the  carapace,  where  It  Is  able  to  dis- 
charge efficiently  the  function  of  respiration. 
The  analogy  here  to  the  function  of  man  and 
woman  in  the  social  organism  is  suggestive. 
Man  has  become  hardened  and  toughened  and 
is  thus  enabled  to  sustain  the  shock  of  contact 
with  the  outer  world ;  while  woman,  protected 
in  the  home,  has  developed  all  the  finer  traits 
of  culture,  of  delicacy,  of  tact  and  of  sweet- 
ness, without  which  life  would  be  poor  indeed 
for  all  of  us." 


CHAPTER  VII 

The  Social  Claim 

'*Dr.  Studevan,"  said  Miss  Ruth,  **I  find  it 
hard  to  believe  that  you  were  serious  last  Fri- 
day evening  in  quoting  Plato  and  in  citing 
the  experience  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
years  ago  as  a  guide  to  our  present  educational 
efforts.  Granted  that  the  Athens  of  Pericles 
and  Plato  had  attained  a  high  degree  of  civili- 
zation, yet  their  experiments  in  coeducation 
can  have  little  value  to-day  when  viewed  in 
the  light  of  the  vast  difference  between  their 
civilization  and  ours.  The  women  of  to-day 
would  refuse  to  accept  the  position  accorded 
to  woman  in  the  Greek  civilization  of  those 
days." 

**You  are  quite  right,"  replied  Dr.  Stude- 
van,  *Ve  can  not  copy  the  past.  The  educa- 
tion that  sufficed  in  Plato's  day  or  even  in  the 
time  of  Rousseau  would  be  entirely  inadequate 
to  meet  present  conditions.     But,  in  spite  of 


126     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

all  that  may  be  said  of  changed  conditions  and 
of  the  need  of  modern  methods  to  cope  with 
the  conditions  of  the  present,  there  is  a  valid- 
ity in  the  historical  argument.  It  is  true  that 
history  never  quite  repeats  itself,  in  education 
or  elsewhere;  nevertheless,  there  is  an  under- 
lying stratum  of  sameness,  and  this  is  precisely 
the  important  thing  when  we  are  dealing  with 
a  question  such  as  coeducation,  which  rests  on 
the  basic  laws  of  human  nature. 

**I  have  no  desire,  however,  to  rest  the  ver- 
dict exclusively  on  the  historical  evidence.  I 
am  quite  content  that  this  problem  should  be 
worked  out  in  the  present.  As  you  have  said, 
the  experiment  is  being  made  on  a  rather  large 
scale  in  many  of  our  universities,  and  I  am 
well  aware  that  whatever  may  be  our  antece- 
dent prejudice,  or  whatever  the  past  may  have 
to  say  about  the  question,  our  course  in  the 
future  will  be  determined,  in  large  measure, 
by  the  results  of  this  experiment.  But  it  is 
well  to  remember  that  experiment  here,  as 
elsewhere,  does  not  dispense  with  the  necessity 
for  examining  the  theoretical  side  of  the  ques- 


The  Social  Claim  127 

tion.  Experiments  in  education,  as  in  other 
fields  of  science,  are  fruitful  only  when  they 
are  studied  in  the  light  of  principles  and  theo- 
ries. 

*'Now,  the  supreme  need  of  the  school  to- 
day is  adjustment  to  present  social  and  eco- 
nomic conditions,  but  in  this  work  of  adjust- 
ment I  can  find  no  reason  to  believe  that 
schools  for  women  have  less  vitality  and  less 
power  of  adjustment  than  schools  for  men." 

**0n  this  phase  of  the  subject,"  said  Profes- 
sor Shannon,  *'Jane  Addams  will  be  accepted 
as  an  unimpeachable  witness.  No  one  has 
ever  questioned  her  singleness  of  purpose. 
Her  work  in  social  settlements  gives  her  the 
right  to  speak  with  authority  on  the  present 
social  and  economic  conditions  of  women  in 
our  industrial  centers.  Her  book  on  'Democ- 
racy and  Social  Ethics'  should  form  an  inte- 
gral part  of  this  discussion,  and  I  make  a  mo- 
tion that  every  member  of  this  club  be  required 
to  read  it.  The  book  doesn't  lend  itself  to 
quotation,  but  as  I  remember  the  outline  of 
the  chapter  on  Tilial  Relations,'  she  at  least 


128     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

implies  that  the  hope  of  the  new  social  adjust- 
ment for  woman  is  bound  up  with  coeduca- 
tion." 

**Here  is  the  volume,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien. 
"I  must  confess  that  I  have  read  the  book 
through  without  gaining  that  impression." 

**Well,  as  I  have  said,  Miss  Addams  does 
not  take  up  the  subject  for  explicit  treatment, 
but  the  implication  is  clear  enough.  For  in- 
stance, on  page  83  she  says:  ^Modern  educa- 
tion recognizes  woman  quite  apart  from 
family  or  society  claims,  and  gives  her  the 
training  which  for  many  years  has  been 
deemed  successful  for  highly  developing  a 
man's  individuality  and  freeing  his  powers  for 
independent  action.'  She  is  evidently  here 
thinking  of  universities  and  coeducational  in- 
stitutions." 

"Professor  Shannon,  won't  you  please  con- 
tinue that  quotation?"  asked  Dr.  Studevan. 
**As  I  remember  the  argument.  Miss  Addams 
seems  to  be  conscious  in  a  dim  way  of  the 
failure  of  coeducation." 

"No,  it  is  not  that,"  replied  the  Professor; 


The  Social  Claim  129 

**she  simply  emphasizes  the  distress  of  woman 
in  trying  to  adjust  this  newly  awakened  life 
to  the  survival  of  rigid  social  institutions.  But 
here  is  the  passage:  'Perplexities  often  occur 
when  the  daughter  returns  from  college  and 
finds  that  this  recognition  has  been  but  par- 
tially accomplished.  When  she  has  attempted 
to  act  upon  the  assumption  of  its  accomplish- 
ment she  finds  herself  jarring  upon  ideals 
which  are  so  entwined  with  filial  piety,  so 
rooted  in  the  tenderest  affections  of  which  the 
human  heart  is  capable,  that  both  daughter  and 
parents  are  shocked  and  startled  when  they  dis- 
cover what  is  happening,  and  they  scarcely 
venture  to  analyze  the  situation.  The  ideal  for 
the  education  of  woman  has  changed  under  the 
pressure  of  a  new  claim.  The  family  has  re- 
sponded to  the  extent  of  granting  the  educa- 
tion, but  they  are  jealous  of  the  new  claim 
and  assert  the  family  claim  as  over  against  it. 
**  The  modern  woman  finds  herself  edu- 
cated to  recognize  a  stress  of  social  obligation 
which  her  family  did  not  in  the  least  anticipate 
when  they  sent  her  to  college.    She  finds  her- 


130     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

self,  in  addition,  under  an  impulse  to  act  her 
part  as  a  citizen  of  the  world.  She  accepts 
her  family  inheritance  with  loyalty  and  affec- 
tion, but  she  has  entered  into  a  wider  inheri- 
tance as  well,  which,  for  lack  of  a  better  phrase, 
we  will  call  the  social  claim.  This  claim  has 
been  recognized  for  four  years  in  her  training, 
but  after  her  return  from  college  the  family 
claim  is  again  exclusively  and  strenuously  as- 
serted. The  situation  has  all  the  discomfort 
of  transition  and  compromise.' 

"Will  any  one  deny  that  the  freeing  of 
woman  from  the  narrow  confines  of  home  and 
the  bringing  into  her  consciousness  of  the  so- 
cial claim  has  been  a  distinct  advance?  Or 
will  any  one  deny  that  this  advance  has  been 
brought  about  by  woman's  attendance  at  co- 
educational institutions?" 

**Well,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  "I  never  like 
to  play  the  role  of  the  denier;  but  I  feel  con- 
strained to  put  in  a  distinct  denial  to  this  latter 
claim  and  just  as  distinct  a  denial  to  the  impli- 
cations of  the  former  claim.  Both  of  these 
claims  are  valid  and  both  have  been  recog- 


The  Social  Claim  1 3 1 

nized  as  such  from  the  beginning  of  Christian 
civilization.  To  coeducational  institutions  be- 
longs the  credit  of  confusing  them,  and  on 
these  institutions  rests  the  responsibility  for 
the  consequent  discomfort. 

'*St.  Paul  clearly  announced  different  voca- 
tions for  different  members  of  the  ^kingdom' 
when  he  said :  To  one,  indeed,  by  the  spirit, 
is  given  the  word  of  wisdom;  to  another,  the 
word  of  knowledge,  according  to  the  same 
spirit;  to  another,  faith  in  the  same  spirit;  to 
another,  the  grace  of  healing  in  one  spirit ;  to 
another,  the  working  of  miracles;  to  another, 
prophecy;  to  another,  the  discerning  of  spirits; 
to  another,  divers  kinds  of  tongues;  to 
another,  the  interpretation  of  speeches.  But 
all  these  things  one  and  the  same  spirit 
worketh,  dividing  to  every  one  according  as 
he  will.' 

'The  Church  demands  of  her  children  loy- 
alty to  the  spirit  of  their  vocation.  Those 
who  are  called  to  the  duties  of  home  life  will 
find  their  happiness  in  the  faithful  discharge 
of  those  duties,  and  those  who  feel  the  pres- 


132     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

sure  of  the  social  claim  are  urged  to  follow  the 
call  with  no  less  loyalty  and  devotion ;  and  all 
are  warned  that  *any  kingdom  divided  against 
itself  shall  fall' 

"One  would  imagine  from  listening  to  the 
passage  from  Miss  Addams  which  you  have 
just  read  that  woman's  recognition  of  the  so- 
cial claim  is  a  recent  affair.  How  then,  may 
I  ask,  will  you  account  for  the  sisterhoods  in 
the  Catholic  Church  ?  Will  you  let  me  have 
the  book  for  a  moment  ? — I  find  this  passage 
on  page  77.  *Our  democracy  is  making  in- 
roads upon  the  family,  the  oldest  of  human 
institutions,  and  a  claim  is  being  advanced 
which  in  a  certain  sense  is  larger  than  the 
family  claim.  The  claim  of  the  state  in  time 
of  war  has  long  been  recognized,  so  that  in 
its  name  the  family  has  given  up  sons  and 
husbands  and  even  the  fathers  of  little  chil- 
dren. If  we  can  once  see  the  claims  of  society 
in  any  such  light,  if  its  misery  and  need  can 
be  made  clear  and  urged  as  an  explicit  claim, 
as  the  state  urges  its  claims  in  the  time  of 
danger,  then  for  the  first  time  the  daughter 


The  Social  Claim  133 

who  desires  to  minister  to  that  need  will  be 
recognized  as  acting  conscientiously.' 

**The  surprising  thing  about  this  statement 
is  the  implication  that  the  recognition  is  to  be 
a  thing  of  the  future,  whereas,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  its  recognition  by  the  Church  in  the  past 
is  responsible  for  many  of  the  most  glorious 
pages  in  human  history." 

**That  is  the  view  Dr.  Shahan  takes  in  his 
chapter  on  Woman  in  Early  Christian  Com- 
munities,' "  said  Miss  Ruth.  **Have  you  his 
'Beginnings  of  Christianity,'  Mr.  O'Brien? 
Let  me  read  you  this  passage.  After  speak- 
ing of  Christ's  affection  for  women  and  little 
children,  he  continues  on  page  158: 

"  *In  return  the  women  of  the  Jews  were 
His  staunchest  defenders.  Some,  like  Salome, 
the  wife  of  Zebedee,  clung  to  Him  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end.  Others,  like  Joanna, 
the  wife  of  Chusa,  Herod's  steward,  and  Su- 
sanna gave  of  their  riches  for  His  support, 
went  about  with  Him  and  the  apostles  through 
cities  and  towns  wherever  the  good  news  was 
spread  by  the  Master.     They  anointed  His 


134    The  Education  of  Our   Girls 

head  and  feet;  they  rejoiced  more  than  all 
others  when  He  rode  triumphantly  into  Jeru- 
salem; they  sorrowed  at  the  gathering  clouds 
which  were  soon  to  burst  over  Him;  they 
stood  afar  off  and  wept  as  He  passed  on  to 
His  doom ;  they  remained  when  all  others  had 
fled;  they  were  the  first  at  the  sepulcher,  the 
first  human  witnesses  of  the  resurrection,  the 
first  apostles  of  Christianity,  since  it  was  they 
who  first  carried  the  glad  tidings  that  Jesus 
liveth  forevermore,  and  that  faith  in  Him  and 
His  promises  is  neither  vanity  nor  delusion. 
"  *By  a  law  of  history  the  great  institutions 
which  most  affect  mankind  bear  always  certain 
ineffaceable  earmarks  of  their  origins — the 
aroma,  as  it  were,  of  their  primitive  surround- 
ings and  the  best  indices  of  the  spirit  and  aims 
of  their  founders.  The  female  sex,  which 
plays  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  life  of 
Christ,  is  no  less  active  in  the  earliest  forma- 
tive period  of  His  church.  .  .  .  When 
Peter  was  delivered  by  the  angel  it  was  to  the 
house  of  Mary,  the  mother  of  John  Marcus, 
that  he  went,  where  many  were  gathered  to- 


The  Social  Claim  135 

gether  and  praying.  After  the  dispersion  of 
the  apostles  we  find  in  the  meager  record  of 
their  history  numerous  facts  that  show  how 
important  a  share  women  had  in  the  success 
of  their  evangelical  labors.  The  Lady  Electa 
would  seem,  according  to  the  second  epistle  of 
St.  John,  to  have  been  the  center  of  an  im- 
portant community. 

**  *I  need  only  to  refer  to  the  ancient  and 
venerable  local  traditions  of  Rome  which  pre- 
serve the  memory  of  the  relations  between 
St.  Peter  and  the  females  of  the  House  of 
Pudens,  and  those  which  concern  the  ancient 
house  of  Prisca  on  the  Aventine.  The  Chris- 
tian world  has  never  seen  devotion  superior  to 
that  which  the  earliest  Christian  matrons  of 
Rome  manifested.  Their  praises  are  in 
Clement  of  Rome  and  the  Shepherd  of  Her- 
mas,  i.  e.,  in  the  earliest  non-canonical  litera- 
ture of  the  Christians.  But  it  is  in  the  life  of 
St.  Paul  that  the  Christian  female  apostolate 
finds  its  best-known  models.  This  time  they 
are  taken  not  from  the  Jewish  and  Syrian 
women,  the  Galilean  neighbors  of  Christ,  and 


136    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

the  female  relatives  of  rough  fishermen,  but 
from  among  the  elegant  and  refined  society  of 
Greek  cities.    .    .    . 

**  *He  speaks  of  his  ^'sincere  companion" 
and  the  other  women  who  have  labored  with 
him  and  Clement  in  the  gospel,  and  whose 
names  are  written  in  the  book  of  life.  Among 
the  most  distinguished  of  his  Athenian  con- 
verts was  the  woman  named  Damaris.  In  the 
epistle  to  the  Romans  he  gives  us  an  insight 
into  the  little  circle  of  females  whom  he  had 
not  yet  seen,  but  whose  reputation  for  Chris- 
tian zeal  had  gone  abroad,  like  the  faith  of 
the  Romans,  into  the  whole  world.  There  is 
his  helper  in  Christ,  Prisca,  the  same  as  Pris- 
cilla,  the  Roman  Jewess,  who,  with  her  hus- 
band, Aquila,  had  befriended  Paul  during 
their  exile  at  Corinth,  who  laid  down  their 
necks  for  him,  and  to  whom  all  the  churches 
of  the  Gentiles  were  indebted.  There  is  Mary, 
**who  hath  labored  much  among  you."  ' 

''After  continuing  the  enumeration  of  the 
women  who  helped  St.  Paul  in  his  labors,  the 
Doctor  goes  on  to  say : 


The  Social  Claim  137 

**  *This  IS  a  precious  page  from  the  earliest 
records  of  Christianity,  and  the  names  of 
women  are  inscribed  on  it  in  immortal  lines. 
They  are  the  mothers  of  the  infant  churches, 
the  laborers,  the  helpers,  the  ministers,  the 
providers,  and  the  consolers.  They  are 
ranked  by  the  apostle  for  devotion  and  hard 
work  with  the  bishops  and  priests  and  chief 
men  of  his  missions.  From  the  women  of 
Rome  and  Philippi  he  no  doubt  received  a 
very  large  share  of  the  funds  he  expended  on 
his  missions  and  charities.  They  kept  alive 
his  teachings  and  sought  out  new  hearers  for 
the  word  of  truth.  By  a  delicate  and  subtle 
instinct  woman  recognized  from  the  beginning 
all  that  Christianity  meant  for  her,  and  no  one 
labored  with  more  zeal  and  intelligence  to 
spread  and  explain  the  new  teachings  which 
recognized  in  her  an  equal  and  opened  such 
illimitable  avenues  to  the  exercise  of  her  pe- 
culiar virtues  and  capabilities.  In  all  the  cul- 
ture lands  bathed  by  the  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean  thousands  of  females,  very 
frequently   of   the   highest   classes,    enrolled 


138    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

themselves  under  the  banner  of  Jesus  and  pro- 
ceeded to  revolutionize  the  ethnic  inner  life 
of  as  many  thousand  families.'  " 

**That  is  a  splendid  argument  for  coeduca- 
tion," said  the  Professor.  **It  proves  that 
Christianity  itself  is  essentially  coeducational. 
Christ  did  not  separate  women  from  men  and 
present  the  Gospel  to  them  in  a  form  suited  to 
the  peculiarities  of  each  sex.  And  as  to  the 
apostles,  they  not  only  taught  mixed  audiences, 
but  they  associated  with  themselves  in  their 
apostolic  work  many  of  the  noble  and  earnest 
women  whom  they  converted  to  Christianity." 

**But  did  not  all  these  women  in  early 
Christian  times,  and  multitudes  of  others  in 
the  centuries  that  followed,  recognize  the  so- 
cial claim?"  asked  Dr.  Studevan.  **And  still 
Miss  Addams  writes :  *If  we  can  once  see  the 
claims  of  society  in  any  such  light,  if  its  misery 
and  need  can  be  made  clear  and  urged  as  an 
explicit  claim!' 

'*What  misery  and  what  need  of  society  has 
remained  to  be  made  clear  to  the  daughters  of 
the  Church?  And  when  have  Catholic  fathers 


The  Social  Claim  139 

and  mothers  failed  to  recognize  that  their 
daughters  who  give  up  home  and  family  to 
minister  to  these  needs  are  acting  conscien- 
tiously? When  man  went  out  to  battle  to 
slay  his  brothers,  woman  followed  to  care  for 
the  wounded  and  to  console  the  dying.  When, 
before  the  days  of  preventive  medicine,  men 
fled  in  terror  from  the  plague,  the  Sister  of 
Charity  remained  to  minister  to  the  stricken. 
When  advancing  civilization  banished  the 
lepers  to  Molokai,  the  Sisters  of  St.  Francis 
went  into  voluntary  exile  that  they  might  min- 
ister to  their  needs.  How  many  a  wayward 
girl  has  been  rescued  from  a  life  of  shame  by 
the  Sisters  of  the  Good  Shepherd !  There  is 
no  more  familiar  spectacle  in  our  city  streets 
than  the  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor  collecting 
alms  to  provide  for  deserted  old  age.  And 
multitudes  of  the  flower  of  Catholic  woman- 
hood in  every  age  have  recognized  the  voice 
of  God  in  the  call  to  larger  social  duties  and 
have  devoted  themselves  to  the  education  of 
our  children  and  to  the  care  of  the  foundling 
and  the  orphan. 


140    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

*Trom  the  standpoint  of  social  develop- 
ment, I  am  afraid  that  even  the  soldier  who 
leaves  home  to  fight  for  his  country  does  not 
show  to  the  best  advantage  when  contrasted 
with  these  women  in  the  sacrifices  which  they 
make  in  leaving  homes,  often  of  luxury  and 
ease,  to  devote  themselves  in  poverty  to  a  life 
of  unremitting  toil  in  ministering  to  social 
needs.  All  this  splendid  development  of 
woman  and  this  adjustment  to  the  social  needs 
of  the  times  came  from  women's  schools  for 
women.  Coeducational  institutions  have  yet 
to  prove  their  capacity  for  developing  such 
splendid  vocations  to  social  service." 

"Doctor,  are  you  not  giving  undue  credit 
to  women's  schools?"  asked  Miss  Ruth.  'The 
vocations  to  social  service  of  which  you  speak 
are  not  due  to  segregated  schools  any  more 
than  they  are  due  to  coeducational  institu- 
tions; they  are  the  fruits  of  Christianity  itself; 
they  are  woman's  offering  in  token  of  her 
gratitude  for  the  victories  that  Christianity 
has  won  for  her.  It  is  a  familiar  theme,  but 
woman's  heart  still  overflows  with  gratitude 


The  Social  Claim  141 

for  the  gift  of  freedom  that  Christ  brought  to 
her.  Dr.  Shahan  makes  the  fact  very  clear 
that  woman's  elevation  to  her  true  place  beside 
man  is  due  neither  to  philosophy  nor  to  the 
generosity  of  man,  nor  to  the  constitutions  and 
curricula  of  schools  and  colleges,  but  to  the 
religion  which  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
teach.  Let  me  read  you  another  page  from 
Dr.  Shahan's  ^Beginnings  of  Christianity':* 

**  *A  great  Christian  writer  has  said  that  of 
all  the  victories  of  Christianity  there  is  none 
more  salutary  and  necessary,  and  at  the  same 
time  none  more  hardly  and  painfully  won, 
than  that  which  it  has  gained — gained  alone 
and  everywhere — though  with  a  daily  re- 
newed struggle,  over  the  unregulated  inclina- 
tions which  stain  and  poison  the  fountains  of 
life.  Its  divinity  here  shows  itself  by  a  tri- 
umph which  no  rival  philosophy,  no  adverse 
doctrine,  has  ever  equaled  or  will  ever  aspire 
to  equal. 

**  'The  improvement  of  the  lot  of  woman 
was  surely  the  greatest  social  conquest  of  the 
Tage  167. 


142   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

religion  of  Christ — greater  even  than  the  alle- 
viation and  abolishment  of  slavery.  On  it,  as 
on  a  corner  stone,  arose  the  new  Christian 
society.  Aristotle  long  since  remarked  that 
wherever  the  institutions  that  concern  the  fe- 
male sex  are  faulty,  the  state  can  enjoy  only  a 
very  imperfect  prosperity,  for  the  family  rela- 
tions are  the  great  beams  on  which  society 
reposes,  and  whatever  tends  to  strengthen 
them  makes  in  the  same  measure  for  the  solid- 
ity of  the  social  framework  that  rests  thereon. 
This  fundamental  truth  had  become  greatly 
obscured  in  the  pre-Christian  ages.  With  a 
few  honorable  and  partial  exceptions  the  con- 
dition of  woman  was  everywhere  that  of  a 
weak  and  degraded  being,  unequal  to  man, 
existing  only  for  his  pleasure  and  utility. 
*The  Christian  doctrine,''  says  Balmes  in  his 
**European  Civilization,"  **made  the  existing 
prejudices  against  woman  vanish  forever;  it 
made  her  equal  to  man  by  unity  of  origin  and 
destiny  and  in  the  participation  of  the  heavenly 
gifts;  it  enrolled  her  in  the  universal  brother- 
hood of  man  with  his  fellows  and  with  Jesus 


The  Social  Claim  143 

Christ;  it  considered  her  as  the  child  of  God, 
the  coheiress  of  Jesus  Christ;  as  the  compan- 
ion of  man  and  no  longer  a  slave  and  the  vile 
instrument  of  pleasure.  Henceforth  that 
philosophy  which  had  attempted  to  degrade 
her  was  silenced;  that  unblushing  literature 
which  treated  woman  with  so  much  insolence 
found  a  check  in  the  Christian  precepts  and  a 
reprimand  no  less  eloquent  than  severe  in  the 
dignified  manner  in  which  all  the  ecclesiastical 
writers,  in  imitation  of  the  Scriptures,  ex- 
pressed themselves  on  woman."  ' '' 

**I  acknowledge.  Miss  Ruth,  that  I  am 
fairly  cornered.  My  enthusiasm  betrayed  me 
into  an  untenable  position.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  I  am  in  entire  agreement  with  you  and 
Dr.  Shahan.  Of  course  woman  does  not  owe 
her  position,  either  social,  moral  or  intel- 
lectual, to  any  system  of  pedagogy  or  to  any 
form  of  educational  institution  as  such.  Her 
regeneration  is  the  direct  result  of  the  pure 
and  noble  teachings  of  Christ  and  of  His 
Church.  However,  in  the  actual  conditions 
which    confront   us    there    is    a    connection, 


144  The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

whether  it  be  accidental  or  not,  between  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  that  elevated  woman 
and  the  question  of  Coeducation  versus  Segre- 
gation. In  such  coeducational  institutions  as 
the  universities  of  Minnesota,  Wisconsin, 
Michigan,  etc.,  religion  is  banished  from  the 
classroom.  The  spirit  of  Christ  and  the  up- 
lifting influence  of  His  teaching  is  not  felt 
within  the  walls  of  these  institutions;  their 
atmosphere  is  materialistic ;  their  aim  is  prac- 
tical; their  philosophy  is  that  of  a  material 
world  that  more  closely  resembles  the  philoso- 
phy of  pagan  Greece  and  Rome,  which  de- 
graded woman,  than  it  does  the  doctrine  of 
Christ,  which  purified  and  ennobled  her. 

*'As  the  case  stands,  however,  the  only 
schools  for  our  Catholic  young  women  that 
continue  to  breathe  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  to 
inculcate  His  teachings  are  the  convent 
schools.  Unfortunately,  many  of  our  young 
women  are  flocking  to  the  universities  in  search 
of  truth.  They  may  find  the  truths  of  math- 
ematics and  of  the  natural  sciences,  but  they 
breathe  a  poisoned  atmosphere,   and  What 


The  Social  Claim  145 

doth  It  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  his  own  soul?'  '* 

*'Is  not  that  an  extremely  narrow  position 
for  a  university  professor  to  take?''  asked 
Miss  Geddes.  **What  of  the  army  of  public 
school  teachers,  multitudes  of  whom  have 
been  trained  in  coeducational  institutions? 
Are  they  all  devoid  of  religion  and  sunk  in 
materialism,  or  is  their  social  service  less  meri- 
torious because  they  dress  as  ordinary  mor- 
tals? Does  virtue  need  to  be  togged  out  in 
special  trappings  to  be  recognized?" 

**My  dear  Miss  Geddes,  it  grieves  me  sorely 
that  you  should  think  me  narrow,  but  if  I  must 
choose  between  the  two  accusations,  I  prefer 
to  be  considered  narrow  rather  than  superfi- 
cial. But  in  reality  I  am  the  last  man  in  the 
world  that  would  consciously  detract  from  the 
merit  of  our  public  school  teachers.  All  my 
life  I  have  been  filled  with  admiration  for 
them  and  filled  with  indignation  against  the 
meanness  of  a  public  spirit  that  compensates 
them  so  poorly  for  the  magnificent  service  they 
render  society.    We  must  remember,  however, 


146    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

that  coeducational  institutions  have  not  a  mo- 
nopoly in  the  training  of  public  school 
teachers.  Many  of  the  ablest  members  of 
this  splendid  army  of  women  received  their 
education  in  convents  or  in  other  schools  for 
women. 

**I  would  gladly  avoid  contrasting  the  ser- 
vices of  two  bodies  of  women  to  each  of  which 
society  owes  so  deep  a  debt  of  gratitude,  but, 
if  comparison  must  be  made,  I  think  we  shall 
find  that  the  social  service  of  the  Sister  who 
teaches  in  our  parish  school  is  of  a  higher  or- 
der than  that  rendered  by  the  public  school 
teacher.  In  the  first  place,  a  large  percentage 
of  public  school  teachers  devote  themselves  to 
this  service  temporarily.  Multitudes  of  them 
teach  for  a  few  years  only  and  then  marry  and 
devote  the  remainder  of  their  lives  to  home 
duties.  Whereas,  teaching  is  to  the  Sister  the 
consecration  of  a  lifetime.  And  however 
meager  the  compensation  of  the  public  school 
teacher,  it  is  usually  several  times  as  great  as 
that  of  the  Sister. 

**Moreover,  while  the  labor  of  the  public 


The  Social  Claim  147 

school  teacher  is  undoubtedly  severe,  It  docs 
not  begin  to  compare  In  severity  with  that  of 
the  Sister,  who.  In  addition  to  her  work  In 
school,  must  devote  several  hours  a  day  to  the 
exercises  of  the  religious  life  which  are 
deemed  necessary  to  sustain  her  In  her  exalted 
vocation.  She  must  rise  at  four  or  five  o'clock 
In  the  morning  to  attend  community  exercises : 
morning  prayers,  meditation.  Mass,  and 
divine  office.  She  has  accomplished  a  good 
day's  work  before  she  reaches  the  schoolroom. 
Then,  after  the  exhausting  labors  of  the  day 
In  a  crowded  room,  she  must  devote  several 
hours  to  household  duties.  Her  Income  Is 
usually  too  scant  to  permit  her  to  employ  ser- 
vants." 

*^It  Is  Inhuman,"  said  Mr.  Eaton,  **to  place 
such  Intolerable  burdens  upon  the  poor  Sisters. 
Why  Is  not  the  labor  divided  among  them? 
Should  not  some  of  the  Sisters  devote  them- 
selves exclusively  to  the  work  of  teaching, 
leaving  to  others  the  household  cares?" 

**There  are  two  very  good  reasons  militat- 
ing against  such  a  desirable  division  of  labor," 


148     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

replied  Dr.  Studevan.  **In  the  first  place,  the 
salary  paid  to  the  Sisters  who  teach  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  support  other  Sisters  who  would  de- 
vote themselves  to  household  cares,  and  there 
is  frequently  no  other  source  of  revenue  availr 
able;  and  secondly,  there  are  not  nearly 
enough  Sisters  to  supply  the  demand  for 
teachers/' 

'^I  do  not  wish  to  detract  in  any  way  from 
the  heroic  self-sacrifice  of  the  good  Sisters," 
said  the  Professor,  *'but  all  this  seems  to  be 
irrelevant  to  the  question  under  consideration. 
We  are  concerned  here,  not  with  the  sacrifice 
of  the  individual  teacher,  whether  she  be  a 
Sister  or  a  public  school  teacher,  but  with  the 
quality  and  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  social 
services  rendered.  If  the  public  school  teacher 
devotes  all  her  power  and  energy  to  the  work 
of  the  school,  whereas  the  Sister,  from  what- 
ever cause,  diverts  a  large  share  of  her  time 
and  energy  to  other  duties,  it  is  evident  that 
the  Sister's  service  in  the  schoolroom  will  be 
proportionately  lowered  in  quality — unless 
you  invoke  supernatural  intervention  to  sup- 


The  Social  Claim  149 

ply  the  place  of  the  diverted  human 
energy." 

*  Well,  even  If  we  admit  this  for  the  sake  of 
argument,"  said  Miss  Ruth,  **the  remedy  is 
to  be  found  in  a  more  generous  support  of  the 
Sisters'  efforts.  It  is  quite  evident  that  some- 
thing should  be  done  in  this  direction  in  order 
that  society  may  receive  the  full  benefit  and 
blessing  of  the  Sisters'  service.  Their  numbers 
should  be  increased  and  they  should  receive  a 
more  generous  compensation.  In  this  land  of 
plenty  it  is  a  crime  to  burden  the  Sisters  with 
household  cares  when  there  is  an  army  of  girls 
willing  to  do  this  work  for  very  modest  wages. 

**In  addition  to  the  disadvantages  which 
Dr.  Studevan  has  just  pointed  out,  the  Sisters 
are  hampered  in  many  other  ways.  They  fre- 
quently have  a  much  larger  number  of  pupils 
in  a  room  than  would  be  permitted  in  the  pub- 
lic schools;  and,  where  the  population  is 
sparse,  the  same  teacher  often  has  to  teach 
several  grades.  And  it  not  infrequently  hap- 
pens that  they  are  unable  to  procure  the 
proper  appliances;   even   their  libraries   are 


150     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

meager,  and  it  is  only  with  the  greatest 
amount  of  sacrifice  that  they  are  enabled  to 
assemble  at  rare  intervals  for  institute  work, 
or  to  secure  the  requisite  talent  to  conduct  the 
institute  and  to  keep  them  in  touch  with  the 
latest  developments  in  educational  methods." 

**Here's  a  chance  for  you,  Mr.  Eaton,"  said 
Mr.  O'Brien.  '^Divine  Providence  has  been 
good  to  you  and  has  multiplied  beyond  meas- 
ure your  herds  and  flocks.  Here's  your 
chance !  Don't  build  libraries  for  an  unappre- 
ciative  public,  but  do  something  right  hand- 
some for  the  Sisters.  Establish  a  fund  that 
will  help  in  some  way  to  lighten  the  burden  of 
these  public  benefactors  or  help  them  to 
realize  their  lofty  aspirations  by  endowing  for 
them  a  normal  institute." 

**Well,  I'll  think  it  over — but  what  are  a 
few  little  fishes  among  so  many?  If  you  will 
help  me  to  get  together  a  few  men  of  means, 
we  may  be  able  to  do  something  that  is  worth 
while." 

*'Now,  Mr.  Eaton,  that's  worthy  of  you," 
said  Dr.  Studevan.     ^Tll  take  back  all  I  said 


The  Social  Claim  151 

against  you  a  few  evenings  ago  and  I  will  even 
withdraw  my  charge  of  materialism.  All  that 
was  asked  of  the  rich  young  man  in  the  Gos- 
pel, you  know,  was  that  he  should  sell  all  that 
he  possessed  and  distribute  it  among  the  poor. 
We  won't  ask  so  much  of  you;  if  you  will 
just  dispose  of  some  of  your  superfluous 
wealth  to  help  these  struggling  Sisters  in  their 
heroic  efforts  for  the  public  welfare,  instead  of 
leaving  it  behind  you  to  demoralize  your  sons, 
the  prayers  of  a  grateful  people,  generation 
after  generation,  will  ascend  to  the  throne  of 
the  Giver  of  all  good  gifts  and  draw  down 
abundant  blessings  upon  your  posterity." 

**This  is  all  very  well,"  said  Professor 
Shannon,  **and  I  want  to  add  my  congratula- 
tions, but  it  has  taken  us  away  from  the  ques- 
tion at  issue.  Studevan,  as  usual,  dodged  the 
point.  We  are  concerned  with  the  quality  of 
the  social  service  rendered  and  not  with  the 
sacrifices  made  by  Individuals  In  order  to  ren- 
der the  service.  Now,  It  Is  clear  that  the  pub- 
lic school  teacher  who  devotes  all  her  time  and 
energy  to  the  work  of  teaching  should  be  able 


152     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

to  do  it  better  than  the  Sister  whose  energy  Is 
drawn  off  In  large  measure  by  other  occupa- 
tions, which,  however  meritorious  or  neces- 
sary In  themselves,  have  nothing  to  do  with 
teaching." 

**I  really  had  no  intention  of  dodging  the 
point,  Professor.  You  surely  will  not  blame 
a  man  for  pausing  to  give  some  slight  expres- 
sion to  the  enthusiasm  that  generous  deeds, 
even  in  their  proposal,  awaken  in  the  human 
heart.  But,  to  return  to  your  question,  I  still 
maintain  that  the  quality  of  the  Sisters'  work, 
in  spite  of  all  the  drawbacks  under  which  they 
labor,  and  prescinding  from  all  the  sacrifices 
that  they  make,  is  of  a  higher  order  than  the 
social  service  rendered  by  the  public  school 
teachers. 

"If  Miss  Geddes  will  pardon  me  for  re- 
turning to  the  biological  mists,  I  will  again 
quote  the  fundamental  principle  that  all  ad- 
vance of  life  to  higher  planes  Is  conditioned 
upon  a  progressive  differentiation  of  structure 
and  specialization  of  function.  We  recognize 
this  principle  everywhere  else :  In  industry  and 


The  Social  Claim  153 

commerce,  in  the  various  professions  and  in 
the  elective  curricula  of  our  colleges  and  uni- 
versities. In  proportion  as  society  grows  in 
complexity  of  structure,  there  is  felt  an  in- 
creasing need  of  vocations  to  social  service." 

**What  has  all  this  to  do  with  the  ques- 
tion?" asked  the  Professor.  *^Is  not  teach- 
ing in  the  public  school  a  special  func- 
tion quite  as  much  as  teaching  in  the  convent 
school?" 

**If  you  will  bear  with  me  a  minute,  Pro- 
fessor, I  will  try  to  make  my  thought  so  clear 
that  even  you  may  grasp  it.  Man,  in  the 
savage  state,  is  concerned  chiefly  with  himself 
and  with  the  members  of  his  immediate  fam- 
ily. Self-preservation  here  expresses  itself  in 
the  care  of  the  individual  and  in  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  species. 

**These  are  the  deepest  and  strongest  instincts 
in  human  nature.  As  man  advances  in  civili- 
zation, instinct,  reenforced  by  human  reason, 
causes  him  to  extend  his  care  and  solicitude  to 
the  tribe  or  clan.  But  as  man  reaches  the 
higher  planes  of  civilized  life,  tribal  lines  tend 


154     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

to  become  obliterated  and  patriotism  mani- 
fests itself  and  the  need  of  the  state  in  time 
of  danger  has  for  him  a  more  potent  voice 
than  that  of  either  tribe  or  family.  And  thus, 
as  man  becomes  ethical,  he  finds  himself  en- 
gaged in  a  conflict  with  the  deeper  and  nar- 
rower instincts  of  his  nature.  Now,  the  high- 
est function  of  education  is  to  strengthen  and 
develop  the  ethical  element  in  man.  Let  me 
read  for  you  a  brief  description  of  this  proc- 
ess from  the  pen  of  Thomas  Huxley,  who 
will  not  be  accused  of  special  pleading  in  be- 
half of  the  Church  or  her  institutions. 

**  Tor  his  successful  progress,  through  the 
savage  state,  man  has  been  largely  indebted  to 
those  qualities  which  he  shares  with  the  ape 
and  tiger;  his  exceptional  physical  organiza- 
tion; his  cunning,  his  sociability,  his  curiosity, 
and  his  imitativeness ;  his  ruthless  and  fero- 
cious destructiveness  when  his  anger  is  roused 
by  opposition.  But,  in  proportion  as  men  have 
passed  from  anarchy  to  social  organization, 
and  in  proportion  as  civilization  has  grown  in 
worth,    these    deeply    ingrained    serviceable 


The  Social  Claim  155 

qualities  have  become  defects.  After  the 
manner  of  successful  persons,  civilized  man 
would  gladly  kick  down  the  ladder  by  which 
he  has  climbed.  He  would  be  only  too  pleased 
to  see  **the  ape  and  tiger  die."  But  they  de- 
cline to  suit  his  convenience;  and  the  unwel- 
come intrusion  of  these  boon  companions  of 
his  hot  youth  into  the  ranged  existence  of  civil 
life  adds  pains  and  griefs,  innumerable  and 
immeasurably  great,  to  those  which  the  cosmic 
process  necessarily  brings  on  the  mere  animal. 
In  fact,  civilized  man  brands  all  these  ape  and 
tiger  promptings  with  the  name  of  sins;  he 
punishes  many  of  the  acts  which  flow  from 
them  as  crimes  and,  in  extreme  cases,  he  does 
his  best  to  put  an  end  to  the  survival  of 
the  fittest  of  former  days  by  the  axe  and 
rope.'* 

^^The  development  of  the  ethical  element 
and  the  production  of  vocations  for  its  culti- 
vation are,  therefore,  the  highest  achievements 
of  education,  and  it  Is  on  this  basis  that  we 
must  make  our  comparison  between  the  work 
*Collected  Essays,  Vol.  IX,  p.  51. 


156     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

of  the  public  school  teachers  and  the  work  of 
men  and  women  who,  leaving  father  and 
mother,  home  and  family,  follow  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  Master  and  spend  their  lives  in 
ministering  to  the  needs  of  God's  children." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Social  Claim  Versus  the  Family  Claim 

**From  Dr.  Studevan's  argument  last  Friday 
evening/'  said  Miss  Geddes,  **one  would 
imagine  that  there  is  such  a  conflict  between 
home  duty  and  social  service  that  the  same 
individual  cannot  respond  to  both.  I  suppose 
he  would  make  our  soldiers  and  statesmen, 
our  doctors  and  lawyers,  celibates  like  him- 
self.^' 

**Why,  no,  Miss  Geddes,  I  would  not  will- 
ingly diminish  the  number  of  marriageable 
men,  of  whom  there  seem  to  be  too  few  as  the 
case  stands.  I  was  thinking  only  of  woman 
and  of  her  difficulty  in  adjusting  the  social 
claim  to  her  home  duties.  Miss  Addams  of- 
fers valuable  testimony  on  this  subject.  Speak- 
ing of  the  college  graduate  she  says : 

**  *The  daughter  finds  a  constant  and  totally 
unnecessary  conflict  between  the  social  and  the 
family  claim.     In  most  cases  the  former  is 


158     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

repressed  and  gives  way  to  the  family  claim, 
because  the  latter  is  concrete  and  definitely 
asserted,  while  the  social  demand  is  vague  and 
unformulated.  In  such  instances  the  girl  qui- 
etly submits,  but  she  feels  wronged  whenever 
she  allows  her  mind  to  dwell  upon  the  situa- 
tion. She  either  hides  her  hurt  and  splendid 
reserves  of  enthusiasm  and  capacity  go  to 
waste  or  her  zeal  and  emotions  are  turned 
inward,  and  the  result  is  an  unhappy  woman, 
whose  heart  is  consumed  by  vain  regrets  and 
desires.' 

*We  all  recognize  the  fact  that  woman 
fulfils  certain  social  functions  without  neglect- 
ing home  duties,  still,  it  is  quite  evident  that 
as  society  grows  in  complexity  it  demands 
among  women  vocations  to  a  social  service 
quite  incompatible  with  ordinary  home  duties. 
Even  our  school  boards  seem  to  recognize  this 
fact  by  their  refusal  to  employ  married 
women.  Their  experience  does  not  warrant 
them  in  imposing  these  two  burdens  on  the 
same  woman. 

*There  was  a  time,  doubtless,  when  the 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     159 

mother  was  quite  able  to  take  care  of  the  edu- 
cation of  her  children,  but  that  was  when  so- 
ciety was  in  its  infancy.  No  inconsiderable 
share  of  the  work  of  education  still  rests  upon 
the  mother,  but  this  is  quite  apart  from  the 
school.  To-day  the  duties  of  either  home  or 
school  are  quite  sufficient  to  absorb  the  energy 
of  any  one  woman.'' 

**Again  I  must  protest,"  said  the  Professor, 
*^that  you  are  hitting  wide  of  the  mark  and 
and  that  you  have  not  cleared  up  the  point 
that  you  promised  to  make  so  plain.  Public 
school  teachers  are  not  married  women,  and, 
from  your  own  admission,  they  devote  all 
their  time  and  energy  to  the  work  of  teach- 
ing; whereas,  the  Sisters,  from  your  own  ad- 
mission also,  are  compelled  to  divert  a  large 
share  of  their  energy  into  other  channels.  The 
advantage,  therefore,  is  decidedly  on  the  side 
of  the  public  school  teachers." 

*^Ah,  Professor,  ^still  harping  on  my 
daughter!'  There  are  many  phases  of  the  sub- 
ject yet  to  be  considered  and  one  can  not  say 
everything  at  once.     But  it  is,  perhaps,   as 


i6o    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

well  to  remind  you  right  here  that  the  disad- 
vantages are  not  all  on  the  side  of  the  Sisters. 
They  act  under  the  guidance  of  the  Church, 
who,  in  her  divine  wisdom,  has  always  recog- 
nized the  differentiation  of  structure  and  the 
specialization  of  function  in  all  phases  of  so- 
cial development. 

*The  Sisters  may,  therefore,  consistently 
develop  to  the  fullest  extent  the  tendency  to 
social  service  wherever  they  find  it.  Where 
it  becomes  the  dominant  tone  in  character,  the 
young  woman  is  not  sent  back  to  home  life  to 
eat  out  her  heart  in  vain  regrets.  A  career  is 
open  to  her  in  any  one  of  the  innumerable 
Sisterhoods,  where  she  may  respond  to  the  so- 
cial claim  with  the  devotion  of  her  life.  And 
where  this  vocation  does  not  manifest  itself, 
the  Sisters  prepare  the  girl  for  the  worthy  dis- 
charge of  home  duties.  The  failure  to  recog- 
nize vocations  to  social  service  and  the  at- 
tempt to  coerce  all  women  into  the  narrower 
circle  of  home  duties  is  responsible  in  no  small 
measure  for  that  discontent  which  in  too  many 
cases  manifests  itself  in  the  divorce  court. 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     1 6 1 

*We  must  not  forget  that  religion  is  the 
great  force  that  has  lifted  man  out  of  his  sel- 
fishness and  savagery.  The  voice  of  the  Mas- 
ter who  bade  His  followers  to  return  the 
sword  into  its  scabbard  and  to  love  one 
another  irrespective  of  tribe  or  tongue  or 
creed  has  been  the  most  potent  factor  that  has 
ever  entered  into  the  world  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  ethical  element  in  man. 

**The  public  school  teacher  is  not  permitted 
to  teach  religion  or  to  utilize  the  resources 
which  it  offers  for  the  development  of  the 
characters  of  the  children  committed  to  her 
care;  whereas  religion  is  the  mainstay  of  the 
Sister. 

** Moreover,  the  selfish  tendencies  in  man  are 
deeply  ingrained  qualities  which  he  has  inher- 
ited through  countless  generations;  whereas 
the  ethical  element,  the  tendency  to  place  the 
public  good  above  all  private  gain,  is  largely 
the  result  of  education.  Now,  if  we  remem- 
ber what  an  all-important  role  imitation  plays 
in  the  development  of  the  mind  and  heart  of 
the  child,  it  will  be  evident  that  the  mere 


1 62     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

presence  in  the  schoolroom  of  a  teacher  whose 
very  dress  is  the  outward  symbol  of  a  life 
consecrated  to  the  public  service  is  of  more 
value  for  the  development  of  the  ethical  na- 
ture of  the  child  than  any  effort  along  the  line 
of  verbal  instruction. 

'^Besides,  it  is  quite  evident  that  a  woman 
who  thus  consecrates  herself  to  the  public  ser- 
vice is  better  qualified  to  foster  and  develop 
the  vocation  to  social  duty  in  the  children 
committed  to  her  care  than  a  woman  who  is 
looking  forward  to  home  duties  and  family 
ties." 

*'That  is  a  rather  startling  view  of  educa- 
tion," said  Miss  Geddes.  *'It  is,  however,  a 
test  of  efficiency  in  teaching  that  is  not  likely 
to  find  acceptance  in  these  practical  days.  Im- 
agine measuring  the  relative  standing  of  a 
school  by  the  number  of  girls  which  it  sends 
into  the  convent  or  by  the  number  of  boys 
which  it  sends  into  the  priesthood !" 

"I  am  afraid,  Miss  Geddes,  that  you  have 
missed  my  thought.  But,  after  all,  would  it 
be  such  a  poor  test  of  the  relative  eflSiciency  of 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim    163 

schools  ?  *By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.' 
The  vocation  to  social  service,  however,  which 
I  had  in  mind  is  not  necessarily  connected  with 
either  sisterhood  or  priesthood.  It  is  simply 
the  recognition  of  the  social  claim  which 
should  be  more  or  less  articulate  in  the  life  of 
every  man  and  woman.  It  is  this  civic  virtue, 
this  placing  of  the  public  good  above  all  pri- 
vate gain,  this  sense  of  human  fellowship, 
this  readiness  to  respond  to  the  cry  of  suffer- 
ing, that  I  have  been  holding  up  as  the  su- 
preme test  of  education.  And  the  question 
under  immediate  consideration  is  the  relative 
equipment  of  sisters  and  of  public  school 
teachers  for  the  development  of  this  quality 
in  the  characters  of  the  children  committed  to 
their  care. 

**You  remember  how  Savonarola  developed 
this  quality  in  Romola.  I  would  like  to  read 
for  you  the  entire  chapter  on  The  Arresting 
Voice,  but  instead  let  me  read  two  brief  pas- 
sages which  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  sub- 
ject in  hand: 

*'  *She  had  started  up  with  defiant  words 


164    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

ready  to  burst  from  her  lips,  but  they  fell  back 
again  without  utterance.  She  had  met  Fra 
Girolamo's  calm  glance,  and  the  impression 
from  it  was  so  new  to  her  that  her  anger  sank 
ashamed  as  something  irrelevant.     .    .    . 

"  *She  stood  silent,  looking  at  him.  And 
he  spoke  again. 

'*  *  *Tou  assert  your  freedom  proudly,  my 
daughter.  But  who  is  so  base  as  the  debtor 
that  thinks  himself  free?'' 

"  *There  was  a  sting  in  those  words,  and 
Romola's  countenance  changed  as  if  a  subtle 
pale  flash  had  gone  over  it. 

**  *  **And  you  are  flying  from  your  debts: 
The  debt  of  a  Florentine  woman;  the  debt  of 
a  wife.  You  are  turning  your  back  on  the  lot 
that  has  been  appointed  for  you — you  are 
going  to  choose  another.  But  can  man  or 
woman  choose  duties?  No  more  than  they 
can  choose  their  birthplace  or  their  father  and 
mother.  My  daughter,  you  are  fleeing  from 
the  presence  of  God  into  the  wilderness.  .  .  ." 

"  *The  source  of  the  impression  his  glance 
produced  on  Romola   was   the   sense  it  con- 


Social  Claim  ^j-.  Family  Claim     165 

veyed  to  her  of  interest  in  her  and  care  for  her 
apart  from  any  personal  feeling.  It  was  the 
first  time  she  had  encountered  a  gaze  in  which 
simple  human  fellowship  expressed  itself  as  a 
strongly  felt  bond.  Such  a  glance  is  half  the 
vocation  of  the  priest  or  spiritual  guide  of 
men,  and  Romola  felt  it  impossible  again  to 
question  his  authority  to  speak  to  her.' 

**This  is  the  qualification  of  the  teacher  as 
well  as  of  the  priest.  The  source  of  Savona- 
rola's power  over  his  followers  is  to  be  found 
in  the  consecration  of  his  life  to  the  public  ser- 
vice. Such  lives  always  exert  a  powerful  in- 
fluence in  lifting  to  a  higher  ethical  plane  those 
with  whom  they  come  in  contact.  In  this  it  is 
plain  that  the  religious  teacher  has  a  great 
advantage  over  those  who  devote  themselves 
temporarily  to  the  work  of  teaching.  The 
unconscious  effect  produced  on  the  children  by 
the  religious  vocation  of  the  teacher  is  ren- 
dered articulate  on  the  lips  of  Savonarola  in 
this  passage : 

**  *  **And  do  you  owe  no  tie  but  that  of  a 
child  to  her  father  in  the  flesh  ?  Your  life  has 


1 66   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

been  spent  In  blindness,  my  daughter.  You 
have  lived  with  those  who  sit  on  a  hill  aloof, 
and  look  down  on  the  life  of  their  fellow-men. 
I  know  their  vain  discourse.  It  is  of  what  has 
been  in  the  times  which  they  fill  with  their 
own  fancied  wisdom,  while  they  scorn  God's 
work  in  the  present.  And  doubtless  you  were 
taught  how  there  were  pagan  women  who  felt 
what  it  was  to  live  for  the  Republic ;  and  you 
have  never  felt  that  you,  a  Florentine  woman, 
should  live  for  Florence.  If  your  own  people 
are  wearing  a  yoke,  will  you  slip  from  under 
it,  instead  of  struggling  with  them  to  lighten 
it  ?  There  is  hunger  and  misery  in  our  streets, 
and  you  say,  *I  care  not;  I  have  my  own  sor- 
rows; I  will  go  away,  if  peradventure  I  can 
ease  them.'  The  servants  of  God  are  strug- 
gling after  a  law  of  justice,  peace,  and  charity, 
that  the  hundred  thousand  citizens  among 
whom  you  were  born  may  be  governed  right- 
eously; but  you  think  no  more  of  this  than  if 
you  were  a  bird  that  might  spread  its  wings 
and  fly  whither  it  will  in  search  of  food  to  its 
liking.    And  yet  you  have  scorned  the  teach- 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     167 

ings  of  the  Church,  my  daughter.  As  if  you, 
a  wilful  wanderer,  following  your  own  blind 
choice,  were  not  below  the  humblest  Floren- 
tine woman  who  stretches  forth  her  hands 
with  her  own  people,  and  craves  a  blessing  for 
them,  and  feels  a  close  sisterhood  with  the 
neighbor  who  lives  beside  her  and  is  not  of  her 
own  blood.''  '  " 

**Granted,''  said  Professor  Shannon,  **that 
what  Savonarola  is  here  pleading  for  is  the 
quality  that  should  be  developed  in  all  our 
children;  but  is  it  not  coeducational  institu- 
tions that  are  awakening  in  our  young  women 
the  consciousness  of  this  social  claim?  Miss 
Addams  brought  this  out  very  clearly  when 
she  said:  'The  modern  woman  finds  herself 
educated  to  recognize  a  stress  of  social  obliga- 
tions which  her  family  did  not  in  the  least  an- 
ticipate when  they  sent  her  to  college.  She 
finds  herself,  in  addition,  under  the  impulse  to 
act  her  part  as  a  citizen  of  the  world.'  " 

^^Coeducational  institutions  haven't  a  mo- 
nopoly of  the  development  in  the  minds  of 
women  of  this  impulse  to  a  larger  life,"  said 


1 68   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

Mr.  O'Brien.  ^'Women's  colleges  and  the 
academies  and  colleges  conducted  by  our  sis- 
terhoods in  all  parts  of  the  country  have  had 
their  full  share  in  this  awakening.  This  theme 
was  beautifully  developed  by  Dr.  Shahan  in 
an  address  delivered  in  Trinity  College  a  few 
years  ago  at  the  dedication  of  the  O'Connor 
art  gallery.  I  found  the  address  the  other 
day,  among  other  essays,  in  The  House  of 
God';  let  me  read  you  this  passage  from  it 
(page  47)  : 

**  The  demand  for  women  of  solid  Chris- 
tian virtue  and  well-cultivated  minds  is  increas- 
ing. There  is  no  city  in  the  land  where  they 
are  not  prized  and  where  a  dozen  tasks  do  not 
await  each  one.  The  immense  democracy  of 
opportunity  solicits  our  American  women  on 
all  sides,  and  her  naturally  independent  spirit 
urges  her  to  profit  to  the  utmost  by  every  open- 
ing that  is  made  for  her.  It  is  in  the  United 
States  that  genuine  superior  schools  for 
women  first  arose;  they  are  still  growing  all 
over  this  land,  often  richly  endowed  by  other 
women,  and  all  of  them  helping  to  uplift  and 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     169 

illustrate  their  sex.  Immemorial  prejudice 
against  the  intellectual  improvement  of 
woman  is  disappearing,  and  barriers  are  fall- 
ing that  seemed  as  inviolable  as  the  laws  of 
the  Medes  and  the  Persians.  Errors  and  fail- 
ures there  have  been,  but  the  whole  movement 
is  sane,  admirable,  eminently  Christian,  and 
rich  with  future  promise.  Anyhow,  the  lords 
of  creation  have  not  always  managed  their 
own  higher  education  so  blamelessly  that  they 
can  reproach  their  sisters  with  their  initial 
stumblings  and  wanderings.  Their  cause  is 
just,  and  no  society  in  the  world  has  so  large 
an  interest  in  its  success,  in  the  growth  of  a 
great  multitude  of  superior  women,  as  our 
American  society.  Virtue  and  intelligence  are 
indispensable  props  of  every  democracy,  and 
they  are  never  imported.  They  grow  in  the 
family,  or  they  grow  not  at  all.  It  is  the 
women  of  the  family,  the  wife,  the  mother,  the 
sister,  who  educate  the  average  American  citi- 
zen. He  is  what  they  make  him  or  fail  to 
make  him.  Hence,  the  most  imperative  need  of 
our  society  is  a  womankind  that  shall  not  only 


170    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

feel  its  responsibility,  but  shall  also  dispose 
of  sufficient  knowledge  to  handle  well  its  op- 
portunities of  every  day  and  every  hour;  that 
shall  be  the  equal  of  the  husband  and  brother, 
the  superior  guide  of  growing  youth,  an  ele- 
ment of  good  counsel,  civic  wisdom,  and  moral 
strength  in  the  community.  One  weakness  of 
modern  society  is  not  the  learning,  but  the  ig- 
norance of  woman,  that  condemns  her  too 
often  to  look  on  helplessly  at  a  frittering  and 
degradation  of  life,  of  which  she  is  again  the 
first  victim.  Hence,  if  Catholicism  is  to  be 
a  social  force  in  the  future  of  our  American 
humanity,  it  must  look  to  the  education  of  its 
women  with  all  the  practical  earnestness  and 
enlightened  zeal  that  it  manifests  for  the  edu- 
cation of  its  men;  nay,  with  more,  for  man  be- 
comes an  educator  only  occasionally,  while 
education  is  the  habitual  calling  of  all  women; 
they  are  its  prophetesses  and  its  priestesses, 
conversant  with  all  its  mysteries,  and  endowed 
by  God  with  a  hundred  secret  affections,  in- 
clinations and  tastes  in  this  sense  that  render 
the  work  easy  and  successful.' 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     171 

*^Our  colleges  and  universities  have  not 
confined  their  efforts  in  the  past,  and  are  not 
confining  them  in  the  present,  to  the  mere 
teaching  of  the  classics  and  the  sciences;  their 
highest  function  has  always  been  the  develop- 
ment of  the  social  element  in  their  pupils. 
They  send  forth  from  their  doors  soldiers  to 
defend  the  country  in  time  of  danger  and 
statesmen  to  guide  the  nation  in  the  pursuit  of 
peace  and  public-spirited  men  everywhere  who 
interest  themselves  in  the  welfare  of  their  fel- 
low-citizens. 

**It  is  quite  natural,  therefore,  that  our 
young  women,  on  entering  these  institutions 
of  learning,  should  feel  the  pulse  of  this  larger 
life  and  find  the  call  to  social  service  impera- 
tive; but  the  point  to  be  considered  is  this: 
are  the  colleges  which  were  developed  to 
minister  to  man's  needs  equipped  to  guide  the 
awakening  social  impulses  of  our  young 
women  into  the  proper  channels? 

"Many  thoughtful  men  think  that  women's 
colleges  must  solve  this  problem.  There 
seems  to  be  no  good  reason  why  they  should 


172    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

not  give  the  young  women  the  practical  and 
cultural  elements  of  a  collegiate  education  and 
the  impulse  to  a  larger  life  which  have  here- 
tofore been  characteristic  of  men's  colleges 
and  coeducational  institutions.  Moreover, 
there  is  every  reason  to  hope  that  these  de- 
sirable features  of  our  existing  universities 
and  men's  colleges  will  be  Incorporated  in 
women's  colleges  with  other  elements  that  are 
essential  to  the  peculiar  needs  of  woman  and 
that  will  fit  her  more  effectively  for  the  large 
work  in  the  social  world  which  she  Is  now 
called  upon  to  perform. 

**It  Is  doubtful  whether  the  universities  and 
coeducational  institutions  can  deal  safely  or 
effectively  with  the  development  of  woman's 
mind  and  heart.  As  Dr.  Shahan  has  so  clearly 
shown,  woman  reached  her  present  elevation 
through  the  uplifting  power  of  Christian 
teaching  and  Christian  Ideals,  and  she  cannot 
now  eliminate  from  her  development  this 
phase,  even  If  we  could  imagine  her  dwelling 
on  some  higher  plane  of  intellectual  and  moral 
life  than  that  to  which  Christianity  has  lifted 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     173 

her.  The  law  so  often  invoked  by  embryolo- 
gists  here  holds  as  rigidly  as  it  does  in  all  other 
fields  of  organic  and  mental  development: 
ontogeny  is  a  recapitulation  of  phylogeny.  It 
is,  therefore,  doubtful  whether  any  institution 
that  Ignores  religion  and  dispenses  with  its  up- 
lifting influences  can  ever  solve  woman's 
problems  or  guide  her  development  success- 
fully/' 

**Miss  Addams'  description  of  the  young 
college  woman  in  the  role  of  a  charity  visitor 
emphasizes  this  doubt,"  said  Miss  Ruth. 
'*The  college  seems  to  have  awakened  in  her 
a  keen  consciousness  of  the  social  claim,  but 
it  has  failed  to  direct  this  awakened  energy 
into  effective  channels  of  social  service.  The 
chapter  on  Charitable  Effort,  which  to  me  is 
the  most  interesting  one  in  the  book,  is  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  utter  failure  of  the  charity  vis- 
itor to  understand  the  people  whom  she  would 
serve,  and  the  endless  misunderstanding  of  her 
motives  by  these  people  which  lead  to  conse- 
quences that  are  neither  foreseen  nor  desirable. 

**Her  failure  to  elevate  their  ethical  stan- 


174    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

dard  is  due  to  her  inability  to  comprehend  it, 
and  when  she  undertakes  to  substitute  her  own 
standard  for  theirs,  *the  perplexity  and  clash- 
ing of  different  standards,  with  the  consequent 
misunderstandings,  are  not  so  bad  as  the  moral 
deterioration  which  is  almost  sure  to  follow.' 
It  usually  takes  the  charity  visitor  some  time 
to  discover  the  impossibility  of  substituting  a 
higher  ethical  standard  for  a  lower  one  with- 
out similarity  of  experience.'' 

**She  would  not  be  thus  perplexed,"  said 
Dr.  Studevan,  **had  the  school  in  which  she 
was  trained  been  animated  by  the  wisdom  of 
the  Church.  The  daintily  clad  charitable 
visitor,  before  she  sprouted  her  wings,  would 
have  learned  that  Christ  did  not  send  angels 
to  convert  the  world.  *Every  high  priest, 
taken  from  among  men,  is  ordained  for  men 
in  the  things  that  appertain  to  God.'  The 
Church  has  always  adjusted  herself  to  the 
people  whom  she  would  lift  up  and  save.  She 
recruits  her  priesthood  and  her  sisterhoods 
from  all  walks  of  life  and  thus  becomes  all 
things  to  all  men  in  order  to  save  all." 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     175 

"Although  the  young  visitor  may  fail  at 
times  to  accomplish  the  good  that  she  desires,'* 
said  Professor  Shannon,  *  Ve  must  not  on  that 
account  overlook  the  good  work  that  is  being 
done  by  the  Associated  Charities  and  the  St. 
Vincent  de  Paul  societies." 

"Miss  Addams  is  evidently  not  much  better 
satisfied  with  the  organized  efforts  of  these 
people  than  she  is  with  individual  strivings," 
said  Miss  Ruth.  "I  find  this  passage  on  page 
25: 

"  *Even  those  of  us  who  feel  most  sorely  the 
need  of  more  order  in  altruistic  effort  and  see 
the  end  to  be  desired  find  something  distaste- 
ful in  the  juxtaposition  of  the  words  "organ- 
ised" and  "charity."  We  say  in  defense  that 
we  are  striving  to  turn  this  emotion  into  a 
motive,  that  pity  is  capricious,  and  not  to  be 
depended  upon;  that  we  mean  to  give  it  the 
dignity  of  conscious  duty.  But  at  bottom  we 
distrust  a  little  a  scheme  which  substitutes  a 
theory  of  social  conduct  for  the  natural 
promptings  of  the  heart,  even  although  we 
appreciate  the  complexity  of  the  situation.'  " 


176    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

"That  is  a  statement  of  the  problem,"  said 
Dr.  Studevan,  "which  the  Church  has  solved 
in  the  organization  of  her  clergy  and  in  the 
formation  of  her  religious  orders.  Has  she 
not  here  again  and  again  lifted  up  capricious 
pity  into  permanent  charity  and  transfigured 
the  emotion  of  love  into  the  conscious  duty  of 
a  lifetime? 

"Miss  Addams  seems  at  times  to  be  on  the 
point  of  recognizing  this  fact  as  when  she  says, 
in  speaking  of  the  experience  of  the  charity 
visitors : 

"  *It  induces  an  occasional  charity  visitor  to 
live  in  a  tenement  house  as  simply  as  the  other 
tenants  do.  It  drives  others  to  give  up  visit- 
ing the  poor  altogether,  because,  they  claim, 
it  is  quite  impossible  unless  the  individual  be- 
comes a  member  of  a  sisterhood,  which  re- 
quires, as  some  of  the  Roman  Catholic  sister- 
hoods do,  that  the  member  first  take  the  vows 
of  obedience  and  poverty,  so  that  she  can  have 
nothing  to  give  save  as  it  is  first  given  to  her, 
and  thus  she  is  not  harassed  by  a  constant  at- 
tempt at  adjustment.' 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     177 

"It  is  somewhat  surprising  that  a  woman  of 
Miss  Addams'  penetration  should  have  failed 
to  see  that  the  sisterhoods  of  the  CathoHc 
Church  contain  the  solution  of  her  problem/' 

*'Why  did  you  stop  reading  there?*'  asked 
Miss  Geddes;  "the  really  significant  part  of 
the  chapter  is  that  which  follows/' 

"I  was  animated  by  no  more  deeply  laid 
scheme,  Miss  Geddes,  than  the  fear  of  trying 
your  patience  too  severely.  But  here  is  the 
rest  of  the  passage : 

'*  *Both  the  tenement-house  resident  and  the 
Sister  assume  to  have  put  themselves  upon  the 
industrial  level  of  their  neighbors,  although 
they  have  left  out  the  most  awful  element  of 
poverty,  that  of  imminent  fear  of  starvation 
and  a  neglected  old  age.'  " 

"So  that  the  adjustment  which  is  secured  by 
the  convent,"  said  Miss  Geddes,  "is,  after  all, 
a  mere  sham !  It's  another  case  of  ^Hamlet' 
without  the  Prince  of  Denmark.  They  wear 
the  outward  semblance  of  poverty  without  be- 
ing poor  in  reality." 

"Your  catalog  of  shams  would  prove  an 


178     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

interesting  one,'*  replied  Dr.  Studevan.  **I  no- 
tice that  in  spite  of  the  danger  of  being  called 
hard  names  by  over-zealous  philanthropists 
the  life-saving  crew  seldom  feel  it  necessary  to 
put  themselves  in  all  respects  in  the  condition 
of  the  shipwrecked  in  order  to  be  of  service 
to  them.  The  saint  in  his  lowliness  mingles 
with  sinners  and  outcasts  without  leaving  his 
sanctity  behind  him.  When  God  became  man 
to  lift  up  fallen  human  nature  He  brought  His 
divinity  with  Him ;  and  the  Sisters,  following 
in  His  footsteps,  labor  incessantly  to  save  and 
uplift  the  wreckage  of  human  society  without 
making  themselves  as  one  of  the  victims  of 
human  vice  and  cruelty." 

''Charities  and  corrections  furnish  a  very 
interesting  theme  for  discussion,"  said  the  Pro- 
fessor, ''and  I  hope  we  shall  find  time  for  it 
on  some  other  evening,  but  I  don't  want  to  let 
Studevan  escape  from  the  tight  corner  in 
which  we  have  him  until  he  acknowledges  like 
a  man  that  he  has  been  in  the  wrong.  We 
have  all  been  interested  in  the  work  of  Miss 
Addams,    Miss    Scudder,    Miss   Haley   and 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     179 

other  women  of  their  kind  who  are  not  Sisters. 
The  awakening  and  developing  of  the  social 
impulses  in  these  women  have  been  the  work 
of  coeducational  institutions,  and  it  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  it  is  to  these  institutions  we 
should  look  for  aid  in  adjusting  woman  to  her 
new  social  and  economic  environments.'' 

*  Whether  or  not  it  be  due  to  the  lateness 
of  the  hour,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  **I  find  it 
rather  hard  to  follow  the  logic  of  the  Profes- 
sor's argument.  Personally,  I  have  always 
considered  it  time  to  drop  a  discussion  when 
the  participants  became  more  interested  in 
personal  triumphs  than  in  the  cause  of  truth. 
I  wonder  if  this  haste  on  the  part  of  the  Pro- 
fessor to  put  me  in  a  corner  is  in  any  way  re- 
sponsible for  his  failure  to  remember  that 
Miss  Addams  received  her  education  in  a 
woman's  college  in  Rockford,  III,  that  Miss 
Scudder  is  a  product  of  Smith,  and  that  Miss 
Haley  was  educated  by  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy 
Cross  ?  Or  is  it  possible  that  he  is  not  aware 
that  much  of  the  best  work  along  these  lines 
outside  the  convent  as  well  as  within  its  walls 


i8o    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

is  done  by  women  who  were  trained  by  the 
Sisters  or  in  women's  schools  and  colleges  con- 
ducted by  women  of  the  world?'' 

**Coeducational  institutions  have  not  had 
time  to  have  a  large  representation  in  work  of 
this  kind,"  said  MissGeddes,  **but  wait  for  the 
future  and  you  shall  see  what  they  will  accom- 
plish! Anyhow,  neither  Miss  Addams  nor 
Miss  Scudder  is  the  product  of  a  convent 
school  nor  did  it  take  a  religious  vocation  to 
develop  in  them  a  response  to  the  social 
claim." 

**A11  of  which  I  most  willingly  grant,"  said 
Dr.  Studevan.  **I  yield  to  none  in  my  admi- 
ration for  the  work  of  such  women  as  Miss 
Addams  and  Miss  Scudder.  Nevertheless,  I 
cannot  help  believing  that  if  Miss  Addams 
were  a  Catholic  and  that  if  she  had  received 
her  training  in  a  convent  school  she  would 
now  be  at  the  head  of  some  great  sisterhood 
with  a  thousand  Sisters  sharing  her  enthusi- 
asm and  working  under  her  direction. 

*'Nor  would  I  have  any  one  think  me  unap- 
preciative  of  the  splendid  work  for  the  higher 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     i8i 

education  of  women  which  is  being  done  by 
many  of  the  existing  women's  colleges  outside 
the  Church.  Still  I  can  not  help  comparing 
results.  I  can  not  escape  the  conviction  that 
all  the  enduring  work  of  society  must  flow  in 
the  channels  of  regular  organization.  Indi- 
vidual effort  however  brilliant  is  likely  to  be 
local  and  short-lived.  If  it  spreads  over  a 
large  area,  unless  it  is  organized,  it  soon  disin- 
tegrates into  a  thousand  conflicting  attempts 
which  often  retard  progress. 

**Nowhere  does  the  Church's  genius  for  or- 
ganization show  to  better  advantage  than  in 
her  dealings  with  women.  She  first  separates 
those  who  by  nature  and  inclination  are  pe- 
culiarly adapted  to  social  service  from  those 
who  are  constitutionally  and  temperamentally 
fitted  to  become  wives  and  mothers ;  and  then 
from  among  those  who  are  eager  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  public  service,  she  selects 
one  band  who  devote  themselves  exclusively 
to  the  care  of  neglected  old  age,  and  another  . 
to  the  care  of  helpless  infancy;  one  band  to  the 
care  of  the  sick  and  the  wounded  in  body,  and 


1 82     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

another  to  the  rescue  and  preservation  of  those 
who  are  weak  morally.  Some  sisterhoods  de- 
vote themselves  chiefly  to  the  formation  of 
ideal  wives  and  mothers  among  the  children 
of  the  wealthy,  while  others  undertake  to  care 
for  the  orphan  and  to  educate  the  children  of 
the  poor. 

**A11  this  work  goes  on  quietly,  without 
noise  or  bustle,  but  there  is  a  consciousness  of 
permanency  in  it  all.  The  members  of  this 
vast  army  labor  in  the  consciousness  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of 
Man.  Individuals  come  and  go,  but  the  or- 
ganization lives  and  continues  through  the 
centuries  to  produce  for  society  its  saving 
fruit.  In  the  life  and  organization  of  the 
Church  the  principle  of  selection,  call  it 
divine  selection  or  vocation,  if  you  will,  finds 
fullest  and  freest  play." 

**Is  not  that  a  new  meaning  that  you  are 
giving  to  religious  vocation,  just  to  suit  your 
present  purpose?"  asked  Miss  Geddes.  '*Do 
you  mean  to  tell  us  that  the  young  man  who 
believes  himself  called  to  the  priesthood  or 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     183 

the  young  woman  who  talks  about  her  voca- 
tion to  the  sisterhood  Is  merely  responding  to 
the  social  claim?" 

*Why,  yes;  that  Is  precisely  what  I  mean, 
and  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  consult  the 
literature  on  the  subject  written  by  the  great 
masters  of  the  spiritual  life,  you  will  find  that 
their  concept  of  the  religious  vocation  Is  not 
really  different  from  that  which  I  am  here  try- 
ing to  explain.  No  Catholic  youth  or  maiden 
expects  God  to  come  down  in  person  and  call 
him  or  her  by  name  and  indicate  the  religious 
order  that  he  or  she  is  to  enter.  These  young 
people  are  filled  with  the  consciousness  of  the 
Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood  of 
Man,  and  in  the  generosity  of  their  young 
hearts  they  consecrate  themselves  wholly  to 
their  Father's  service  and  expect  to  discover 
their  Father's  wish  chiefly  in  the  need  of  their 
brother  and  in  their  own  capacity  and  inclina- 
tion. To  secure  them  against  error  In  this 
direction  the  Church  requires  them  to  consult 
the  spiritual  guides  whom  she  appoints  to  di- 
rect her  children  in  the  waysof  peace  and  life." 


184     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

^^Studevan  has  a  way  of  talking  all  around 
a  subject,"  said  Professor  Shannon,  **and  he 
never  will  stop  if  he  is  allowed  to  ride  his 
hobby  *the  glory  of  the  vocation  to  the  re- 
ligious life.'  What  would  become  of  the 
world  If  we  all  became  priests  and  nuns?  He 
seems  to  have  adopted  as  his  philosophy  of 
life  Hamlet's  advice  to  Ophelia:  *I  say  we 
will  have  no  more  marriages.  Those  that  are 
married  already,  all  but  one,  shall  live;  the 
rest  shall  keep  as  they  are.    To  a  nunnery,  go.' 

**He  seems  to  forget  that  even  under  ideal 
conditions  the  schools  have  to  train  fifty  girls 
who  are  to  marry  and  remain  in  the  world  for 
every  one  that  is  destined  for  the  religious 
life,  and  it  is  with  the  education  of  the  fifty 
and  not  with  that  of  the  one  that  we  are  con- 
cerned in  the  question  of  coeducation.  Of 
course  no  one  expects  the  candidates  for  the 
priesthood  and  the  sisterhoods  to  be  trained  in 
coeducational  institutions.  Keeping  these  re- 
ligious vocations  in  the  foreground  is  one  of 
Studevan's  devices  for  evading  the  real  point 
under  discussion.     Please  stick  to  the  point, 


Social  Claim  vs.  Family  Claim     185 

Doctor,  and  tell  us  whether  a  convent  school  is 
better  able  to  train  a  young  woman  for  the 
world,  whether  it  is  more  competent  to  give 
her  the  kind  of  training  that  she  needs  to  be- 
come a  wife  and  mother,  than  are  coeduca- 
tional institutions." 

**Don't  be  so  grouchy.  Shannon;  I  really 
have  no  desire  to  evade  the  question  as  you 
state  it,  but  we  shall  have  to  postpone  discus- 
sion until  next  Friday  evening  and  then  we 
shall  have  to  appeal  to  Mrs.  O'Brien  for  illu- 
mination on  this  phase  of  the  subject.  Her 
experience  will  help  us  to  reach  a  decision 
concerning  the  kind  of  education  that  is  best 
suited  for  the  wives  and  mothers  of  our  day." 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Vocations  of  Woman 

"Isn't  Mrs.  O'Brien  going  to  give  us  the 
pleasure  of  her  company  this  evening?"  asked 
Professor  Shannon.  "You  know  we  want 
her  to  instruct  Dr.  Studevan  on  the  kind  of 
education  that  is  needed  to  fit  our  girls  to  be- 
come ideal  wives  and  mothers." 

"Kate  will  join  us  later.  Mary  is  a  bit 
under  the  weather  this  evening,  and  until  she 
is  safely  in  dreamland  claims  her  mother's 
undivided  attention." 

"At  our  last  meeting  the  Doctors  seemed  to 
make  a  very  strange  division  of  womankind," 
said  Miss  Ruth.  "They  have  apparently  for- 
gotten the  existence  of  the  bachelor  girl,  but 
I  am  afraid  she  will  refuse  to  be  ignored." 

"If  Dr.  Studevan  had  his  way,"  said  Miss 
Geddes,  "he  would  send  every  unmarried  girl 
over  twenty  years  of  age  into  the  convent." 

"Oh,   it's  hardly  as  bad   as  that.    Miss 


The  Vocations  of  Woman      187 

Geddes.  But,  really,  I  do  question  whether 
there  is  a  third  vocation  for  woman.  If  she 
is  to  become  an  integral  part  of  the  social  sys- 
tem, she  must  find  her  orbit  either  in  the  home 
or  in  some  organization  for  social  service — 
call  the  organization  a  sisterhood  or  what  you 
will.  These  lone  women  wandering  through 
life  without  attachments  are,  like  comets  or 
meteors,  strange  beings  sadly  out  of  place  in 
the  social  world.'' 

*That  is  hardly  a  fair  way  to  look  at  the 
question,  Doctor,"  said  Miss  Ruth.  *The  so- 
cial and  economic  conditions  of  our  times 
have  advanced  the  marrying  age  of  both 
sexes.  Multitudes  of  our  young  women  must 
labor  to  support  themselves  for  some  years, 
even  though  they  contemplate  marrying  later 
on.  A  great  many  of  them,  in  addition  to 
supporting  themselves,  must  care  for  aged 
parents  and  not  infrequently  for  the  younger 
members  of  the  family  as  well.  Many  of 
these  women  do  not  feel  themselves  called  to 
the  religious  life  and  they  still  remain  single 
all  their  lives.    There  can  be  no  question  of 


1 88     The  Education  of  Our   Girls 

the  duty  of  educational  institutions  to  minis- 
ter to  the  needs  of  these  people.  It  looks  as 
though  we  must  reckon  with  at  least  three  vo- 
cations for  women." 

**Studevan's  objection  to  the  third  vocation 
applies  to  bachelors  with  even  greater  force 
than  it  does  to  bachelor  girls,"  said  Mr. 
O^Brien.  **If  unmarried  women  over  twenty 
years  of  age  should  enter  the  convent,  what 
about  unmarried  men  of  over  thirty?" 

**Why,  they  are  not  only  out  of  place,"  said 
Dr.  Studevan,  "but  they  are  more  culpably 
so  than  women.  Every  individual  owes  a 
duty  to  the  race  which  he  should  not  be  al- 
lowed to  shirk.  He  should  either  found  a 
home  and  strengthen  his  people  numerically, 
or  he  should  become  a  member  of  some  regu- 
lar organization  for  social  service,  and  in  this 
way  discharge  his  duty  to  society.  The 
bachelor  girl  may  not  be  altogether  respon- 
sible for  her  detached  condition,  since  it  is 
quite  possible  that  she  would  change  it  if  the 
right  man  appeared  on  the  scene,  but  society 
does  not  allow  her  freedom  in  seeking  for  a 


The  Vocations  of  Woman      189 

suitable  companion,  while  it  leaves  man  ab- 
solutely free  in  this  respect." 

'Would  you  advocate  the  passage  of  a 
law,  Doctor,'*  said  Mr.  O'Brien,  ^'compelling 
all  bachelors  to  marry?  If  it  is  their  selfish- 
ness that  keeps  them  single,  would  it  not  be 
wise  for  the  state  to  tax  them  so  heavily  that 
they  would  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  marry 
and  thus  discharge  their  duty  to  society?'' 

**On  general  principles  I  am  inclined  to 
agree  with  you,"  replied  Dr.  Studevan,  ''but, 
after  all,  our  evenings  would  be  rather  dull 
without  Shannon,  and  if  he  had  a  young  wife 
and  children  to  take  care  of,  I  am  afraid  he 
would  find  it  rather  difficult  to  grace  our 
meetings  with  his  presence.  Society  would 
sadly  miss  the  mellow  old  bachelor." 

"And  what  would  my  wife  do  without 
Aunt  Mary,  who  is  always  on  hand  in  time 
of  family  need?"  asked  Mr.  Eaton.  *'She 
makes  the  clothes  for  the  little  ones  and  is 
chief  nurse  in  time  of  sickness." 

"That  is  all  true,  Mr.  Eaton,"  said  Mr. 
O'Brien,   "but  you  are  thinking  of  the  old 


190     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

maid  and  we  were  speaking  of  the  bachelor 
girl;  these  are  quite  distinct  species,  you  know\ 
The  sudden  increase  in  the  number  of  bache- 
lor girls  is  one  of  the  alarming  symptoms  of 
the  present  situation.  From  Miss  Ruth's 
statement  of  the  case,  this  sudden  increase  is 
due  to  the  social  and  economic  conditions  of 
the  time,  but  would  not  the  converse  of  this 
be  much  nearer  to  the  truth?  Are  not  the 
social  and  economic  conditions  here  referred 
to  traceable  to  the  bachelor  girls?  W.  A. 
Curtis  in  the  Outlook  for  December  13,  1902, 
says: 

**  *Man  is  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that 
woman  in  the  twentieth  century  is  not  his  ally, 
his  helpmate,  his  wife,  but  his  competitor,  his 
rival.  .  .  .  Once  woman  doubled  our  joys 
and  halved  our  sorrows.  She  now  halves  our 
incomes  and  doubles  those  seeking  employ- 
ment. Declaiming  against  the  injustice  of 
paying  her  half  what  a  man  got,  in  her  blind- 
ness to  the  fact  that  man  got  twice  as  much 
in  order  that  he  might  give  her  half,  she  has 
succeeded  in  getting  her  rate  of  compensation 


The  Vocations  of  Woman      191 

raised  somewhat,  but  his  has  descended  to 
meet  it.  And  so,  some  assert,  result  the  un- 
married and  unhappy  thousands  of  women 
and  men,  so  the  increase  of  the  social  evil,  so 
the  weakening  of  the  national  stamina  that 
assails  a  nation  where  family  life  is  pass- 
ing. .  .  .  Blindly,  unconsciously,  rudely, 
unchivalrously,  yet  with  a  righteous  purpose 
at  bottom,  though  he  know  it  not,  the  col- 
lege man  strikes  at  coeducation.'  " 

**That  sounds  like  a  voice  from  the  last 
century,"  said  Miss  Ruth,  **but  it  suggests 
many  themes  which  would  probably  furnish 
profitable  discussion  for  our  evenings.  Have 
man's  wages  descended?  If  there  are  too 
many  seeking  employment,  why  admit  a 
million  laborers  a  year  to  glut  the  market? 
Besides,  woman  has  never  been  an  idler  and 
it  is  hardly  fair  to  blame  her  for  following 
her  employment  when  it  left  the  home. 

*  There  are  many  families  in  our  cities  that 
consist  of  several  grown  girls  and  whose  only 
male  bread  winner  is  the  father,  whose  earning 
capacity  is  constantly  diminishing  as  the  needs 


192    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

of  the  family  increase.  Who  are  going  to 
share  their  wages  with  these  girls?  They 
are  not  averse  to  marrying  if  decent  men  who 
are  able  to  support  them  and  who  are  worthy 
of  their  affection  appear  on  the  scene  to  claim 
their  love  and  devotion ;  meanwhile  they  must 
work  for  a  living,  and  that  away  from  home. 
The  only  question  is  whether  they  shall  enter 
the  labor  market  uneducated  and  try  to  earn 
their  living  by  the  use  of  their  muscle,  of 
which  they  seem  to  have  too  scanty  a  supply, 
or  whether  they  shall  first  receive  an  educa- 
tion that  will  enable  them  to  live  by  their 
talents.  Woman  has  chosen  the  latter  of  these 
alternatives  and  she  feels  herself  entirely 
within  her  rights  when  she  demands  a  share 
in  the  best  education  that  society  affords. 

**Dr.  Shahan  emphasizes  this  thought  in 
The  House  of  God'  (page  337).  Let  me 
read  the  passage  for  you : 

**  'And  the  world  of  woman?  The  insti- 
tutions of  a  given  society  are  always  affected 
by  the  prevailing  forms  of  government.  And 
so  the  logic  of  Democracy  has  already  com- 


The  Vocations  of  Woman      193 

pelled  our  modern  society  to  open  its  schools 
to  woman  and  grant  her  that  equality  of  aca- 
demic privileges  that  she  once  sighed  for  in 
vain.  It  is  because  a  good  education  for 
woman  is  no  longer  an  ornament,  but  a  neces- 
sity. And  it  is  such  because  education  is  rap- 
idly becoming  the  indispensable  need  of  every 
member  of  society  who  would  cultivate  God- 
given  gifts  and  opportunities.  From  all  sides 
comes  a  recognition  of  the  new  and  unique 
position  among  states  of  our  own  beloved 
land.  This  United  States  is  no  longer  the 
land  of  buccaneers  or  knights-errant  of  the 
world,  but  a  magnificent,  closely  knit,  self- 
conscious  organism,  filled  with  youth  and 
strength,  dragging  along  no  ancient  impedi- 
ments of  hatred  and  wrong,  that  proposes  in- 
deed an  incredible  advance,  but  proposes  also 
to  begin  v/here  other  societies  have  stopped. 
It  is  in  such  a  world  that  economic  and  social 
changes  of  the  widest  import  are  placing 
woman  everywhere  upon  the  intellectual  level 
of  man — frequently  enough,  indeed,  much 
higher.    She  is  beginning,  in  the  most  honor- 


194     "^^^  Education  of  Our   Girls 

able  way,  to  shine  in  sciences  that  seemed 
once  closed  to  her  almost  by  a  law  of  nature. 
Here,  too,  are  we  to  take  no  account  of  the 
flood  that  is  rising  on  all  sides,  but  fold  our 
arms  and  placidly  wait  for  the  extinction 
among  us  of  all  the  glorious  prestige  and 
moral  power  that  will  attach  to  learning  so 
long  as  society  exists?'  " 

**I  am  glad  to  welcome  you  to  our  side  of 
this  controversy.  Miss  Ruth,*'  said  Professor 
Shannon;  ^^I  always  felt  that  your  good  judg- 
ment would  assert  itself  in  the  end  and  that 
you  would  abandon  Studevan  and  his  vaga- 
ries. Woman  has  been  compelled  to  enter 
into  competition  with  man,  and  in  seeking  an 
education  in  the  institutions  which  have 
equipped  her  competitors  she  is  using  her 
common  sense  and  following  her  instincts, 
which  are  always  true." 

"Are  not  your  conclusions  just  a  bit  hasty, 
Professor?"  asked  Dr.  Studevan.  "I  find  my- 
self agreeing  with  everything  that  Miss  Ruth 
has  said  and  in  entire  accord  with  every  line  of 
Dr.  Shahan's  magnificent  essay  on  the  Need 


The  Vocations  of  Woman      195 

of  a  Catholic  University,  from  which  she  has 
just  read. 

"The  time  has  come  for  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  our  sons  and  daughters,  and  in  this 
work  Catholics  can  not  afford  to  lag  behind 
the  movement ;  they  must  be  its  leaders  and  its 
guides.  With  the  flower  of  Catholic  man- 
hood and  womanhood  devoting  themselves 
with  zeal  and  enthusiasm  to  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation, there  is  only  needed  a  helping  hand 
from  those  amongst  us  whom  God  has  blessed 
with  wealth  to  put  Catholic  educational  insti- 
tutions in  the  forefront  of  the  movement. 
The  Catholic  heart  that  built  the  cathedrals 
of  Europe  and  laid  the  foundations  of  its 
great  universities  will  not  permit  our  religious 
teachers  to  go  forth  to  their  life  work  with- 
out the  best  intellectual  equipment  that  the 
age  affords. 

^'However,  your  statement  that  Voman 
has  been  compelled  to  enter  into  competition 
with  man'  seems  strangely  out  of  place  on  the 
lips  of  a  modern  sociologist.  Any  close  ob- 
server of  present  social  and  economic  condi- 


196     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

tions  must  see  that  the  age  of  competition  is 
passing;  the  future  belongs  to  cooperation. 

''But  to  return  to  Miss  Ruth's  statement, 
I  quite  agree  with  her  that  woman  is  not  re- 
sponsible for  the  present  conditions,  as  Mr. 
Curtis  would  seem  to  imply.  Labor-saving 
machinery,  by  sweeping  industry  from  the 
home,  has  compelled  woman  to  seek  employ- 
ment in  new  fields.  In  doing  this  she  is  not 
invading  man's  province.  Employment  for 
both  men  and  women  has  completely  changed 
and  both  have  to  adjust  themselves  to  these 
changed  conditions.  The  man  who  inveighs 
against  woman  labor  bases  his  judgment  on 
superficial  aspects.  Whether  woman  works  in 
the  home,  in  the  office,  or  in  the  factory,  is  a 
mere  accident;  the  important  thing  has  re- 
mained unchanged — that  is,  that  she  works. 

''A  close  survey  of  the  field  reveals  the  fact 
that  woman  is  claiming  for  herself  certain  in- 
dustrial provinces  which  she  will  make  her 
own  and  from  which  she  will  eliminate  man 
quite  as  effectively  as  she  formerly  eliminated 
him  from  spinning  and  weaving.    There  is  a 


The  Vocations  of  Woman      197 

strange  mixture  of  truth  and  error  in  that  arti- 
cle of  Mr.  Curtis.  Will  you  let  me  have  the 
magazine  for  a  moment,  Mr.  0*BrIen?  Just 
listen  to  this : 

**  ^Numerically  the  college  woman  is  not  a 
large  factor,  but  she  is  a  sure  factor,  and  the 
college  man,  obeying  one  of  those  strange 
psychological  waves  that  sweep  over  a  nation 
and  make  all  blind,  unconscious  agents  in  a 
great  change,  a  great  reform,  is  trying  to  save 
her  from  herself  for  himself.  Coeducation 
will  not  pass.  .  .  .  But  the  competition  of 
woman  with  man  will  pass.' 

**In  the  years  which  have  elapsed  since  Cur- 
tis wrote  this,  the  number  of  co-eds  has  in- 
creased with  great  rapidity,  nevertheless  I 
believe  he  was  mistaken  when  he  said  *coedu- 
cation  will  not  pass.'  The  truth  of  his  other 
statement,  that  competition  will  pass,  must  be 
evident  to  every  student  of  sociology.  Woman 
never  has  been  in  any  serious  competition  with 
man  in  the  labor  market.  When  the  new 
province  of  woman  in  the  industrial  world  be- 
comes clearly  defined,  woman  will  find  it  to 


198     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

her  interest  to  seek  her  education  in  those 
schools  which  in  scope  and  method  are  being 
developed  to  meet  her  peculiar  needs." 

*'Are  we  to  understand,  Doctor/'  said  Pro- 
fessor Shannon,  *'that  man  is  about  to  abdicate 
the  learned  professions  because  woman  has  put 
in  an  appearance  ?  and  that  woman  is  to  do  all 
the  teaching  and  to  fill  all  the  clerical  positions 
and  to  do  all  the  journalistic  work  and  to  write 
our  magazine  articles  and  our  books?  If  these 
positions  are  not  to  be  relinquished  to  women, 
how  is  competition  to  cease  between  man 
and  woman?  And  if  woman  is  going  to 
claim  all  this  as  her  province,  the  next  genera- 
tion of  men  will  have  to  take  to  the  tall 
timbers." 

*'It's  coming  to  that  very  rapidly,"  said  Mr. 
Eaton.  **It  is  already  becoming  very  difficult 
to  secure  domestic  servants.  The  other  day  a 
friend  sent  a  colored  girl  to  us,  and  when  my 
wife  took  her  into  the  kitchen  and  began  to 
instruct  her  concerning  her  duties,  the  girl 
grew  quite  indignant  and  asked  my  wife  if  she 
really  expected  her  to  stand  over  a  hot  stove 


The  Vocations  of  Woman      199 

cooking  and  gave  her  to  understand  that  she 
was  a  high  school  graduate." 

*Tour  alarm,  gentlemen,"  said  Dr.  Stude- 
van,  '^reminds  me  of  an  old  friend,  who,  after 
quoting  a  splendid  passage  descriptive  of  the 
solar  system,  proceeded  to  exhibit  his  utter 
failure  to  comprehend  the  fundamental  laws 
of  the  system.  He  reasoned  that  if  from  any 
cause  the  weight  of  the  earth  were  increased 
it  would  drop  into  the  sun,  and  that  if  its  mo- 
tion were  retarded  ever  so  little  the  same  dire 
fate  would  befall  it;  while  if  its  weight  were 
diminished  or  its  motion  increased  it  would 
wander  off  in  ever  widening  circles  into  inter- 
stellar space.  He  had  evidently  failed  to 
reahze  the  power  of  adjustment  possessed  by 
the  solar  system.  And  so  I  sometimes  think 
that  our  alarmists  fail  to  realize  society's 
power  of  self-adjustment. 

*Woman  has  entered  the  industrial  arena, 
where  she  must  find  her  employment  in  the 
future;  she  is  crowding  the  academic  depart- 
ments of  our  universities  and  colleges,  from 
which  the  young  men  have  departed  to  pre- 


200    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

pare  for  their  future  in  technical  and  profes- 
sional schools.  But  even  if  woman's  orbit  is 
being  changed  under  the  stress  of  present  con- 
ditions, we  need  feel  no  alarm.  Woman  will 
find  her  new  orbit  and  be  as  true  to  it  as  she 
has  been  to  the  old." 

"  Trailty,  thy  name  is  woman,'  was  prob- 
ably due  to  Hamlet's  liver,''  said  the  Profes- 
sor, *'but  to  what  shall  we  attribute  Dr.  Stude- 
van's  inconsistency?  A  little  while  ago  he 
denied  to  the  bachelor  girl  a  vocation  and  set 
up  the  old  cry  that  every  woman  should  marry 
or  betake  herself  to  a  convent,  and  now  he 
calmly  assures  us  that  woman  in  this  *Third 
Estate'  has  conquered  for  herself  whole  prov- 
inces of  the  industrial  world  and  in  fact  that 
she  is  moving  in  a  new  orbit." 

**  *Aye,  Nello,  and  if  they  tongue  can 
leave  off  its  everlasting  chirping  long  enough 
for  thy  understanding  to  consider  the  matter, 
thou  mayst  see'  that  there  is  in  this  seeming 
inconsistency  no  sterner  stuff  than  dreams  are 
made  of.  If  you  were  consistent,  you  would 
accuse  all  Catholics  of  inconsistency,  since  they 


The  Vocations  of  Woman     201 

accept  purgatory  and  still  subscribe  to  the  be- 
lief that  there  are  only  two  eternal  states.  If 
you  had  been  attending  to  the  discussion  in- 
stead of  allowing  your  fancy  to  wander  in 
more  pleasant  places,  you  would  have  learned 
ere  this  that  multitudes  of  women  who  occupy 
these  newly  conquered  industrial  provinces 
have  not  relinquished  the  hope  of  reigning 
over  homes  of  their  own.  You  would  have 
learned  also  that  this  lady-bachelordom,  which 
seems  to  have  obsessed  you,  is  a  sort  of  tad- 
pole state  of  existence  in  which  certain  women 
dwell  for  a  time  before  passing  into  the  realms 
of  bliss.'' 

*Xady-bachelordom,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien, 
*Vould  seem  to  be  a  state  which  it  is  highly 
desirable  that  young  women  should  avoid,  and 
if  the  uncontrollable  current  of  events  should 
leave  any  fair  maiden's  bark  stranded  on  these 
desolate  shores,  it  is  the  duty  of  friends  and 
neighbors  to  hasten  to  the  rescue.  Have  I 
caught  your  meaning.  Doctor?" 

*^The  gentlemen  are  frivolous  to-night," 
said  Miss  Ruth,  *Vhich  is  hardly  worthy  of 


202    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

them  or  of  the  subject  under  discussion.  We 
are  confronted  by  conditions,  not  theories. 
While  the  fact  remains  that  multitudes  of 
young  women  must  labor  to  support  them- 
selves and  those  dependent  upon  them,  educa- 
tional institutions  cannot  afford  to  neglect 
their  intellectual  needs.  And,  as  I  have  said 
before,  there  are  a  great  many  women  who 
never  marry  and  who,  nevertheless,  feel  no 
call  to  the  religious  life.  Have  these  women 
no  rights  that  educational  institutions  should 
respect?" 

**My  dear  madam,  if  I  have  given  offense 
by  my  seeming  levity,  let  me  hasten  to  apolo- 
gize. You  know  it  is  hard  to  be  serious  when 
Professor  Shannon  espouses  the  cause  of  the 
bachelor-girl.  But  I  was  really  in  earnest  in 
maintaining  that  there  are  only  two  vocations 
for  women.  Each  one  of  us  owes  to  society 
a  duty  that  is  above  all  selfish  or  individual 
interests,  and  this  duty  we  can  fully  discharge 
only  by  becoming  organic  parts  of  society, 
either  as  a  member  of  a  home  group  or  of 
some  larger  group  whose  explicit  aim  is  social 


The  Vocations  of  Woman     203 

service.  A  woman  who  does  not  marry  and 
who  feels  no  call  to  the  religious  life  may  still 
take  part  in  uplifting  her  race  by  cooperating 
with  some  permanent  organization  by  the 
work  of  her  hands  or  of  her  brain  or  by  con- 
tributing of  her  worldly  possessions. 

**As  to  those  women  who  labor  for  a  time 
to  support  themselves  and  those  dependent 
upon  them  before  they  assume  the  duties  of 
married  life,  it  is  quite  evident  that  their  needs 
in  this  temporary  state  of  existence  should 
be  taken  into  account,  but  their  education 
should  be  so  conducted  that  this  passing  phase 
of  their  existence  and  its  needs  would  remain 
subordinate.  The  chief  purpose  of  their 
training  should  be  to  fit  them  for  the  worthy 
discharge  of  their  duties  when  they  take  up 
their  real  life  work. 

**I  am  not  forgetting  that  many  women 
who  have  no  call  to  the  religious  life  remain 
in  the  world  unmarried.  There  is  no  class  of 
women  in  the  community  more  conspicuous 
for  social  service.  How  many  a  home  is  pre- 
served  by  the   heroic  self-sacrifice   of  these 


204    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

women?  How  many  an  aged  father  and 
mother  are  kept  from  the  poorhouse  and  al- 
lowed to  spend  life's  evening  in  the  peace  and 
comfort  of  their  own  home  through  the  devo- 
tion of  their  daughters,  when,  as  too  often 
happens,  their  sons  have  failed  to  realize  the 
hopes  and  expectations  of  their  boyhood ! 

**It  is  surely  as  worthy  a  social  service  to 
labor  in  this  way  to  prevent  the  helpless  from 
becoming  a  public  burden  as  it  is  to  minister 
to  those  who  have  become  demoralized 
through  poverty  and  hardship.  It  not  infre- 
quently happens  that  a  member  of  a  religious 
community  is  sent  back  into  the  world  to  care 
for  an  aged  parent  whom  the  waves  of  adver- 
sity have  left  stranded  on  a  desolate  shoal. 
But  while  I  recognize  all  this,  I  believe, 
nevertheless,  that  a  life  of  this  kind  is  not  and 
should  not  be  chosen  as  a  life's  vocation,  and 
hence  the  school  cannot  take  it  into  account  as 
such. 

**The  young  woman  in  her  generosity  as- 
sumes these  burdens  intending  to  carry  them 
for  a  time  only.     She  usually  hopes  later  on 


The  Vocations  of  Woman     205 

either  to  marry  or  to  enter  a  convent,  but  It 
too  often  happens  that  in  the  faithful  dis- 
charge of  these  duties  her  youth  slips  from 
her,  and  when  freedom  comes  it  is  too  late 
to  do  either. 

*'My  contention,  consequently,  amounts  to 
this:  every  girl  who  does  not  intend  to  join  a 
sisterhood  should  be  so  educated  that  she  will 
be  able  to  discharge  efficiently  the  duties  of  a 
wife  and  mother  should  Divine  Providence 
call  her  to  that  position.  I  hold,  this  conten- 
tion being  granted,  that  an  education  which 
is  shaped  exclusively  to  meet  man's  needs 
will  prove  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  our 
young  women.'' 

*Tou  are  just  in  time,  Mrs.  O'Brien,"  said 
Professor  Shannon;  **Dr.  Studevan  has  been 
floundering  hopelessly  in  his  endeavor  to  en- 
lighten us  concerning  the  kind  of  education 
that  is  suitable  for  the  wife  and  mother  of 
to-day." 

**How  is  Mary?"  asked  Miss  Ruth. 

**She  caught  a  severe  cold  and  is  a  bit  fever- 
ish, but  is  sleeping  nicely  now,  thank  you.     I 


2o6    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

am  very  sorry  to  have  missed  the  discussion 
this  evening.  Please  tell  me  what  it  was 
about/' 

*There  wasn't  much  new  in  it,"  said  Miss 
Geddes.  **Dr.  Studevan  was  trying  to  prove 
that  our  educational  institutions  should  take 
account  of  only  two  vocations  for  women; 
their  treasures  are  for  those  who  marry  or  for 
those  who  enter  the  convent;  the  rest  of  us  are 
to  be  entirely  ignored." 

**Now,  that  is  hardly  fair,  Mrs.  O'Brien; 
all  I  have  said  is  this :  all  women  who  do  not 
intend  to  become  Sisters  should  fit  themselves 
during  their  school-days  to  discharge  the  du- 
ties of  wives  and  mothers,  because  there  is 
really  no  telling  where  the  lightning  will 
strike,  you  know." 

**I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to  agree  with  you, 
Doctor.  I  have  grown  very  distrustful  of  the 
higher  education  of  woman  as  it  is  too  fre- 
quently understood  at  present.  Of  course  I 
do  not  believe  that  anybody,  man  or  woman, 
can  be  too  highly  educated,  but  a  great  many 
people  in  these  days  seem  to  get  the  wrong 


The  Vocations  of  Woman     207 

kind  of  education.  It  seems  to  me  that  when- 
ever an  education  renders  people  unhappy  and 
discontented  with  their  state  in  life  it  is  the 
wrong  kind  of  education/' 

'*That  is  the  sanest  view  of  the  subject  that 
has  been  expressed/'  said  Dr.  Studevan. 
**Education  should  be  a  developmental  proc- 
ess; it  should  lift  up  and  ennoble  the  ordinary 
things  of  life;  it  should  glorify  duty  and  trans- 
figure labor;  it  should  perfect  the  adjustments 
of  individual  life  and  promote  the  happiness 
and  well-being  of  society.  *By  their  fruits  ye 
shall  know  them.'  And  the  higher  education 
of  women  that  fails  to  bring  forth  these  fruits 
stands  condemned,  like  the  barren  fig  tree  of 
the  Gospel." 

*There,  Studevan  is  at  it  again,"  said  the 
Professor.  'We  have  been  waiting  all  even- 
ing for  Mrs.  O'Brien  to  tell  us  the  kind  of 
education  that  is  most  helpful  to  wives  and 
mothers,  but  of  course  Studevan  must  crowd 
her  off  the  platform  and  preach  to  us  again." 

**Don't  mind  him.  Doctor;  I  would  much 
rather  listen  to  you  talk.    You  say  the  things 


2o8   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

that  I  have  been  thinking  and  you  say  them 
much  better  than  I  could.'* 

'^That's  very  kind  of  you,  Mrs.  O'Brien, 
but  really,  I  have  told  them  all  I  know  about 
the  subject,  and  Shannon  Is  right;  you  have 
been  patiently  listening  to  us  for  several  even- 
ings and  we  have  all  grown  hungry  for  your 
views." 

'*It  didn't  take  any  patience  on  my  part,  I 
assure  you ;  on  the  contrary,  I  have  been  very 
much  interested  In  what  you  were  all  saying 
and  did  not  think  of  anything  to  say  myself. 

**I  wonder  If  psychologists  do  understand 
women,  after  all.  No,  I  didn't  mean  the 
Doctor;  I  was  thinking  about  what  Professor 
Miinsterberg  said.  He  could  not  have  under- 
stood women  when  he  wrote  that  higher  edu- 
cation removed  from  them  the  desire  to  marry. 
It  is  not  easy  for  any  woman  to  part  with  these 
deep  instincts  of  her  nature.  Even  when  a 
woman  goes  into  the  convent  it  is  not  because 
she  finds  In  her  heart  no  promptings  to  love 
and  marriage.  In  the  generosity  of  her  soul 
she  offers  these  things  up  to  God  In  remem- 


The  Vocations  of  Woman     209 

brance  of  what  He  suffered  for  us  and  she  de- 
votes her  life  to  the  service  of  others  that  she 
may  grow  daily  more  like  her  divine  Master. 

'^I  don't  agree  with  the  Professor  at  all 
when  he  blames  the  cultural  development  of 
women  for  preventing  marriage  and  for  ren- 
dering married  people  unhappy.  Even 
though  a  wife's  cultural  development  be  supe- 
rior to  that  of  her  husband,  it  will  not  render 
her  unhappy,  that  is,  if  she  has  good  common 
sense.  Women  are  able  to  appreciate  a  dia- 
mond in  the  rough.  And  a  sensible  woman 
doesn't  love  a  man  the  less  because  he  is  una- 
ble to  talk  about  literature  and  art.  And,  be- 
sides, if  a  woman  has  the  right  kind  of  culture 
herself,  she  will  impart  a  great  deal  of  it  to 
her  husband.  I  sometimes  think  that  real  cul- 
ture must  be  a  matter  of  inheritance;  it  is  the 
fine  feeling  and  the  quick  sympathy  rather 
than  the  external  polish. 

**Higher  education  may  be  responsible  for 
keeping  many  women  from  getting  married; 
and  it  may  also  be  responsible  for  a  great  deal 
of  the  wretchedness  and  unhappiness  of  mar- 


2IO   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

ried  life;  but,  if  so,  the  blame  should  be  laid 
on  the  things  that  have  not  been  taught  rather 
than  on  the  things  that  our  girls  actually 
learned  at  college. 

*Tor  instance,  there  is  Mrs.  Hamlyn,  as 
charming  a  little  woman  in  many  ways  as  you 
could  find  in  the  city.  She  has  an  M.  A. 
degree  from  the  State  University.  Some  of 
her  verses  are  really  exquisite  and  her  pictures 
are  not  bad.  But  all  this  has  not  contributed 
much  to  the  happiness  of  her  home.  Mr. 
Hamlyn  has  a  fair  income,  they  entertain  very 
little,  and  yet  they  are  always  in  debt.  T^^Y 
are  both  excellent  people  and  might  be  ex- 
pected to  make  each  other  very  happy,  but  I 
believe  if  they  could  untie  the  knot  to-morrow 
without  giving  scandal,  they  would  gladly 
do  so. 

"Now,  what  is  the  trouble?  I  don't  mean 
that  all  the  blame  rests  on  Mrs.  Hamlyn;  but 
there  is  more  food  wasted  in  her  kitchen  than 
would  support  two  families;  she  is  always  in 
trouble  with  her  servants  and  she  lives  in  ab- 
ject terror  of  them;  the  meals  arc  irregular, 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


Oman     2 1 1 


the  tabic  is  seldom  appetizing,  and  Mr.  Ham- 
lyn's  tastes  are  never  considered;  her  house  is 
usually  in  disorder  and  her  children  are  abso- 
lutely undisciplined. 

**I  cannot  help  thinking  what  a  happy  little 
home  she  would  have  if  she  had  received  the 
right  kind  of  training  when  she  was  a  young 
girl.  But  her  mother  never  asked  her  to  do  a 
thing  about  the  house ;  she  was  not  allowed  to 
wet  her  fingers  lest  it  might  render  them  unfit 
for  the  piano;  and  during  all  the  years  that 
she  spent  in  the  high  school  and  at  the  univer- 
sity she  devoted  her  entire  attention  to 
science  and  literature  and  to  everything,  in 
fact,  but  to  that  which  she  most  needs  now. 

**A  woman  in  Mrs.  Hamlyn's  position 
would  seldom  need  to  cook,  but  if  she  under- 
stood cooking  as  a  science  and  delighted  in  it 
as  an  art,  she  would  so  supervise  the  work  as 
to  prevent  waste.  She  would  be  absolutely 
independent  of  her  servants  and  would  have 
no  difliiculty  in  holding  their  respect.  And 
then,  too,  her  table  would  not  be  such  a  trial 
to  her  husband's  temper.    If  her  artistic  taste 


212    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

had  been  developed  along  the  lines  of  dress 
and  home  adornment,  it  would  contribute  in 
no  inconsiderable  degree  to  her  own  happiness 
and  to  the  welfare  of  her  family." 

**Training  of  the  kind  you  advocate,"  said 
Miss  Geddes,  **might  have  sufficed  in  the  past, 
and  it  is  doubtless  all  right  for  those  who  de- 
sire it  in  the  present,  but  there  are  many 
women  who  have  made  up  their  minds  to  re- 
main single  rather  than  be  any  man's  drudge. 
rd  like  to  see  myself  doing  the  marketing, 
paring  the  potatoes,  washing  the  dishes,  and 
nursing  the  children,  to  satisfy  any  man.  The 
days  for  that  sort  of  thing  have  passed.  The 
woman  of  to-day  claims  an  equal  right  with 
man  to  share  in  the  things  of  the  mind." 


CHAPTER  X 

Domestic  Science 

"Mrs.  O'Brien,  I  am  very  glad  to  find  you 
on  our  side  of  this  question,"  said  Professor 
Shannon.  **From  what  you  said  last  Friday 
evening  I  infer  that  you  are  quite  satisfied 
with  the  education  that  Mrs.  Hamlyn  received 
in  the  high  school  and  the  university.  I  agree 
with  you  in  tracing  her  present  troubles  to  the 
training  which  her  mother  failed  to  give  her 
in  the  home,  so  the  blame  rests  on  her  mother 
and  not  on  the  university." 

**I  don't  know  who  is  to  blame  for  it,"  re- 
plied Mrs.  O'Brien.  **Mrs.  Hamlyn's  mother 
had  a  large  family  and  she  was  a  very  busy 
woman,  but  she  was  an  excellent  housekeeper. 
She  was  an  old  lady  when  I  knew  her,  but 
even  then  it  would  do  your  heart  good  to  go 
into  her  kitchen;  she  kept  everything  in  it  as 
neat  as  wax.  While  I  never  saw  her  dressed 
elaborately,  she   was   always  neat,   and   her 


214   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

home  always  seemed  so  fresh  and  cozy  that  it 
rested  you  just  to  go  into  it." 

**How  was  it  possible  for  a  woman  like  that 
to  raise  such  a  daughter  as  Mrs.  Hamlyn?" 
asked  Mr.  Eaton. 

"They  make  such  demands  on  the  children 
in  the  schools  these  days  that  they  seem  to 
leave  time  for  nothing  else,"  replied  Mrs. 
O'Brien.  **When  Mary  and  Arthur  come 
home  from  school  they  have  so  many  lessons 
to  learn  that  it  is  bedtime  before  they  get 
through.  And  conditions  are  much  worse  in 
the  high  school.  There  is  not  even  sufficient 
time  for  legitimate  amusement,  and  in  those 
years  when  a  young  girl  would  most  easily 
learn  to  cook  and  sew  and  take  care  of  the 
home  she  is  so  overwhelmed  with  school  work 
that  her  mother  is  in  constant  fear  for  her 
health  and  wouldn't  for  the  world  ask  her  to 
do  another  thing." 

**In  this  fear  the  mother  instinct  is  asserting 
itself,"  said  Dr.  Studevan.  **I  wish  all 
mothers  would  read  Dr.  Engelmann's  article 
in   Public  Opinion    for   January    lo,    1901. 


Domestic  Science  215 

While  we  may  not  wholly  agree  with  every- 
thing he  says,  there  is  undoubtedly  a  great 
deal  of  wholesome  truth  in  the  article.  He  is 
quite  right  when  he  says  that  the  present  day 
native  American  girl  of  the  middle  class  is 
the  artificial  product  of  advanced  civilization ; 
that  she  is  a  bundle  of  nerves  encased  in  a 
fragile  frame  and  that  there  is  grave  reason 
to  fear,  unless  a  radical  change  is  made  in  her 
upbringing,  that  the  consequences  will  be  seri- 
ous to  the  entire  community.  Less  brain  work 
and  more  fresh  air  are  the  remedies  that  he 
recommends. 

*'A11  this  is  in  line  with  what  Mr.  O'Brien 
said  at  the  beginning  of  this  discussion.  The 
curriculum  of  the  high  school  and  particularly 
that  of  the  college  has  been  shaped  with  a 
view  to  the  capacity  of  the  young  men  and 
with  reference  to  their  peculiar  needs.  Even 
when  the  girl  attempts  nothing  further  than 
the  work  outlined  by  the  high  school  and  col- 
lege, she  is,  in  those  critical  years  of  her  physi- 
cal development,  seriously  endangering  her 
health  by  over  work.    And,  as  Mrs.  O'Brien 


2i6     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

has  just  pointed  out,  she  has  many  things  to 
learn  which  are  of  even  greater  importance  to 
her  future  welfare  than  are  the  subjects  in- 
cluded in  the  curriculum  of  coeducational  insti- 
tutions." 

**And  then,"  said  Mrs.  O'Brien,  '*many  of 
these  girls  leave  home  to  board  in  dormitories 
or  private  houses  during  the  time  they  attend 
the  university  courses,  and  so  they  lose  their 
taste  for  domestic  employment  and  get  out  of 
the  way  of  doing  anything  in  the  house.  It  is 
during  these  years  that  our  girls  take  on  man- 
nish ways  and  unfeminine  attitudes  of  mind. 
I  marked  this  passage  in  an  editorial  in  this 
morning's  paper: 

**  ^Recently,  at  a  meeting  of  educators, 
President  G.  Stanley  Hall,  of  Clark  Univer- 
sity, returned  to  his  charge  with  the  declara- 
tion that  a  further  study  of  college  statistics  had 
convinced  him  that  ten  years  after  graduation 
about  one-fourth  of  the  men  and  one-half  of 
the  women  remained  unmarried.  He  deduced 
from  this  state  of  affairs  that  the  higher  edu- 
cation tended  to  discourage  marriage. 


Domestic  Science  217 

**  *Other  educators  are  loath  to  follow 
President  Hall  In  his  declaration,  and  the 
leaders  of  such  women's  colleges  as  Smith, 
Bryn  Mawr  and  Vassar  think  his  reasoning  is 
fallacious.  They  do  not  believe  that  educa- 
tion Is  the  cause  of  failure  to  marry,  but  that 
changed  social  and  economic  conditions  are  re- 
sponsible, and  they  declare  that  when  the  col- 
lege girl  does  decide  to  marry,  she  makes  a 
good  wife  and  mother. 

'*  *0f  course,  a  layman  must  be  chary  of 
venturing  on  ground  where  even  the  women 
educators  tread  timorously,  but  it  does  seem 
as  if  there  might  well  be  some  soundness  in 
the  argument  of  President  Hall.  The  higher 
education  has  done  absolutely  nothing  toward 
changing  the  fact  that  It  Is  the  woman — edu- 
cated or  not — who  must  wait  to  be  wooed  and 
won.  Certainly,  the  higher  education  must 
be  a  great  aid  to  her  In  deciding,  when  the 
wooer  comes,  whether  or  not  he  is  a  fit  mate 
for  her;  and  If  he  is  not  fit,  that  same  training 
must  give  her  strength  of  mind  enough,  know- 
ing, as  she  must,  the  evil  consequences  of  ill- 


21 8    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

assorted  marriages,  to  refuse  him.  At  least, 
the  higher  education  has  saved  woman  from 
**choosing  her  mate  from  a  mob,"  as  Hood 
said.  She  has  learned,  along  with  her  Latin- 
ity  and  other  things,  that  a  husband  is  not  an 
absolute  necessity;  that,  indeed,  if  she  can  not 
get  the  right  sort,  it  is,  perhaps,  better  both 
for  herself  and  her  race  to  have  none  at 
all.' 

**There  is  some  truth  in  what  the  editor 
says,  and  in  as  far  as  he  is  right,  higher  educa- 
tion must  be  regarded  as  a  blessing.  If  it  only 
kept  people  from  marrying  who  were  unfit  to 
be  married  there  would  be  little  cause  for 
complaint,  but  were  that  true  there  should  be 
a  proportionate  increase  in  the  number  of  suc- 
cessful marriages,  which,  I  am  afraid,  is  not 
the  case.  I  think  when  the  whole  truth  is 
known  that  the  cause  of  this  abnormally  high 
percentage  of  unmarried  girls  among  college 
graduates  will  be  traced  to  the  mode  of  life 
in  the  colleges  and  coeducational  universities. 
If  the  girls  were  in  charge  of  wise  mothers 
during  these  years,  or  if  they  lived  in  convent 


Domestic  Science  219 

homes  under  the  sweet  and  simple  influence  of 
the  Sisters,  there  would  be  another  story  to 
tell." 

^^Undoubtedly,  your  plan  would  improve 
matters,''  said  Dr.  Studevan,  ''but  I  do  not 
think  that  it  contains  the  entire  solution  of  the 
problem.  It  will  be  interesting  to  tabulate  the 
results  among  the  graduates  of  such  colleges 
as  Trinity,  St.  Elizabeth's,  St.  Clara's, 
St.  Mary's  and  St.  Catherine's.  Five  years 
from  now  will  tell  that  story.  But  it  is  my 
opinion  that  if  the  course  of  study  is  not  so 
shaped  during  those  formative  years  of  a 
young  woman's  life  and  character  as  to  blend 
domestic  employments  with  school  occupa- 
tions and  lift  the  whole  question  of  domestic 
science  to  a  high  plane  worthy  of  the  intelli- 
gent study  of  our  brightest  young  women, 
neither  mothers  nor  sisters  will  be  able  to  pre- 
vent a  very  high  ratio  of  bachelor-girls  among 
our  college  graduates." 

*'It  amounts  to  this,  then,"  said  Miss 
Geddes,  ''that  woman  must  choose  between 
being  a  sort  of  upper-servant  for  some  man : 


220     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

to  cook  his  meals  for  him,  to  make  the  beds, 
and  nurse  the  children,  to  look  up  to  him  most 
devoutly,  and  coddle  him  for  a  week  at  a 
time  when  she  wants  to  get  a  new  bonnet  or  a 
new  dress ;  or  she  must  get  a  college  education 
and,  through  it,  independence  and  freedom  to 
go  and  come  as  she  pleases,  to  support  herself 
in  a  way  that  suits  her  own  tastes  and  to  meet 
man  on  terms  of  equality.  How  long  do  you 
suppose  our  young  women  will  hesitate  be- 
tween these  two  alternatives?" 

**Are  we  really  confronted  with  such  a  di- 
lemma?" asked  Miss  Ruth.  **Domestic 
science  hardly  consists  in  paring  potatoes  and 
making  beds.  Its  advocates  see  in  it  a  source 
of  interest  that  flows  out  into  all  the  other 
sciences  of  the  curriculum.  Physics,  chemistry, 
biology,  economics  and  geography  are  clothed 
with  a  new  interest  for  the  student  of  domestic 
science. 

*'And  again,  making  woman's  training  iden- 
tical with  that  of  man  will  hardly  secure  her 
the  freedom  and  equality  which  she  craves. 
Her  highest  freedom,  as  well  as  her  highest 


Domestic  Science  221 

development,  comes  from  obedience  to  the 
laws  of  her  own  nature.  This  apparent  di- 
lemma would,  therefore,  seem  to  arise  from 
the  unfortunate  attempt  to  force  man's  educa- 
tion on  woman's  nature." 

**That  touches  the  very  core  of  the  diffi- 
culty," said  Dr.  Studevan.  **When  God  cre- 
ated man  and  woman  I  am  afraid  that  He 
failed  to  take  into  account  the  entrance  re- 
quirements or  the  final  examinations  of  our 
high  schools  and  colleges. 

**A11  education  should  be  determined  by  the 
nature  and  the  needs  of  the  individual  in  ques- 
tion. This  has  been  my  contention  from  the 
beginning.  Woman's  nature  and  needs  are 
different  from  those  of  man  and  hence  her 
education  should  be  different.  The  ignoring 
of  this  difference  is,  in  large  measure,  respon- 
sible for  the  social  disaster  which  surrounds 
us  on  every  side. 

**Woman  has  lost  her  domestic  tastes  and 
she  shrinks  from  household  cares.  She  is  at 
the  mercy  of  her  servants,  who  harass  her  and 
squander  her  means  until,  in  her  despair,  she 


222     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

abandons  her  home  for  a  flat  from  which  chil- 
dren arc  banished. 

**It  is  a  misconception  of  the  whole  subject 
to  suppose  that  woman's  intellect  will  be  less 
highly  developed  by  subjecting  it  to  a  disci- 
pline which  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  nature 
of  woman's  intellect  than  by  subjecting  it  to 
a  discipline  which  ignores  woman's  nature  and 
woman's  needs  and  is  shaped  wholly  in  view 
of  man's  uses." 

**But,"  said  Professor  Shannon,  **if  the 
work  of  the  high  school  and  the  college  is,  as 
Mrs.  O'Brien  says,  more  than  enough  to  tax 
the  strength  of  the  girl,  where  is  she  to  find 
the  time  or  the  energy  for  the  cultivation  of 
those  domestic  arts  which  you  seem  to  con- 
sider such  an  essential  part  of  woman's  educa- 
tion ?  How  is  she  to  cultivate  these  arts  with- 
out lowering  the  standard  of  her  college  edu- 
cation?" 

**0h,  man  has  had  woman  for  his  slave  so 
long,"  said  Miss  Geddes,  **that  we  must  not 
blame  him  too  much  if  he  now  finds  it  hard  to 
give  her  her  freedom." 


Domestic  Science  223 

**My  dear  Miss  Geddes,  I  fear  that  I  am 
the  most  unfortunate  of  men  since  I  always 
seem  to  be  incurring  your  displeasure,"  said 
Dr.  Studevan.  **Now,  I  of  all  men  should 
have  the  least  interest  in  holding  woman  in 
bondage,  for,  whatever  may  happen  to  her, 
my  fate,  you  know,  is  sealed.  I  can  only  re- 
ceive her  ministrations  from  afar.  And  really, 
I  do  wish  I  could  convince  you  that  the  thou- 
sand kindnesses  which  I  have  received  from 
the  members  of  the  fair  sex  have  made  me 
their  eternal  debtor.  And  in  this  discussion 
I  am  pleading  their  cause  and  contending  for 
their  interests  as  I  see  them.  I  lay  no  claim 
to  infallibility,  and  whatever  may  be  my  mis- 
takes, I  beg  that  you  will  at  least  credit  me 
with  kind  intentions." 

**It  is  very  hard  to  credit  you  with  any  kind 
of  intentions,"  said  Professor  Shannon.  **You 
are  so  slippery  and  inconsistent  that  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  keep  track  of  your  moves. 
I  would  be  grateful  to  you,  and  I  think  I 
may  speak  for  the  others  present,  if  you  would 
take  a  day  off  to  recall  the  various  things  you 


224    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

have  said  on  coeducation  and  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  women  in  these  discussions.  If  you 
will  put  your  various  statements  together,  you 
may  come  to  realize  how  hopeless  it  is  for  any- 
one to  quite  understand  you.  We  will  give  you 
the  floor  for  a  whole  evening  and  bind  our- 
selves not  to  interrupt  you  once,  if  you  will  un- 
dertake to  give  a  rational  account  of  yourself." 

**It  would  be  worth  almost  any  effort,"  re- 
plied Dr.  Studevan,  *^to  keep  you  silent  for  a 
whole  evening,  particularly  if  you  will  face 
the  other  side  of  the  room." 

**Why,  that's  an  excellent  idea,"  said  Mr. 
O'Brien.  ''But  would  it  not  be  well  to  let 
others  share  our  pleasure?  I  am  sure  a  num- 
ber of  our  friends  would  be  glad  to  hear  Dr. 
Studevan's  talk.  Let  us  have  a  little  parlor 
lecture  some  Friday  evening  that  will  suit  the 
Doctor's  convenience.  The  room  will  com- 
fortably seat  about  forty,  so  if  each  one  pres- 
ent will  bring  a  half  dozen  friends,  we  will 
give  Dr.  Studevan  the  platform,  or  we  will 
erect  a  pulpit  for  him  if  it  will  make  him  feel 
more  at  home." 


Domestic  Science  225 

'Tlease  do,  Doctor,"  said  Miss  Ruth;  ''it 
will  help  all  of  us  to  gather  up  the  fruits  of 
this  discussion  before  passing  on  to  other  sub- 
jects." 

''I  don't  object  in  the  least,"  replied  the 
Doctor.  *'No  music  delights  me  so  much  as 
the  sound  of  my  own  voice  when  lecturing  to 
a  few  choice  minds.  But  if  we  are  to  gather 
in  a  number  of  persons  who  are  likely  to  be 
interested  in  this  subject,  would  it  not  be  well 
to  invite  those  who  have  the  means  and  the 
inclination  to  help  the  work  along?  In  the 
meanwhile,  let  me  try  to  put  myself  right  with 
Miss  Geddes  and  in  one  detail  at  least  to  an- 
ticipate my  lecture. 

"It  seems  to  me,  Miss  Geddes,  that  we 
should  look  at  the  whole  subject  in  this  way: 
The  advent  of  steam  and  electricity  in  the  in- 
dustrial world  has  removed  from  the  home  the 
various  employments  which  served  to  give  an 
objective  training,  both  sensory  and  motor,  to 
many  generations  of  boys  and  girls.  Now,  it 
is  the  obvious  duty  of  the  school  to  supply  to 
the  children  in  this  respect  what  the  homes 


226     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

have  ceased  to  give.  At  present  the  boy  gets 
this  objective  training  in  the  laboratories  of 
physics,  chemistry  and  mechanical  engineer- 
ing, and  the  girls  should  get  a  similar  objec- 
tive training  in  schools  which  teach  the  domes- 
tic arts. 

**The  advent  of  the  factory  in  the  industrial 
world  has  accomplished  many  things  that  have 
rendered  competition  by  home  industry  im- 
possible. Among  other  things  the  introduc- 
tion of  science  into  the  processes  of  manufac- 
ture has  brought  about  the  utilization  of  by- 
products unattainable  in  home  industry; 
things  that  in  the  home  went  to  waste  are  here 
made  to  yield  a  large  proportion  of  the  profits. 
Thus  in  the  manufacture  of  corn  syrup  there 
are  twenty-two  valuable  by-products,  which  in 
the  old  days  would  have  been  returned  to  fer- 
tilize the  fields.  Why  should  domestic  science 
not  partake  of  the  same  general  advance? 

"Is  there  any  good  reason  why  the  girl 
should  not  be  taught  the  art  of  cooking  with 
the  same  care  and  with  the  use  of  the  same 
instruments  of  precision  that  a  boy  employs  in 


Domestic  Science  227 

his  physical  laboratory  ?  And  why  should  not 
the  preparation  of  food  be  made  for  her  the 
center  of  an  interest  which  would  radiate  into 
physiology,  chemistry  and  botany,  or  why 
should  not  the  adornment  of  the  dining-room 
table  and  the  artistic  combination  and  arrange- 
ment of  pictures,  bric-a-brac,  rugs  and  furni- 
ture in  a  home  be  made  a  similar  focus  of  in- 
terest for  the  development  of  her  aesthetic 
faculties  ? 

** Woman  needs  an  objective  training  as 
much  as  man  needs  it;  but  to  deprive  her  of  an 
objective  training  along  the  lines  of  inherited 
tendency  and  in  accordance  with  her  present 
and  future  needs,  and  to  substitute  for  this 
training  a  laboratory  training  in  mineralogy, 
physics  and  mechanical  engineering,  is  to  cheat 
woman  out  of  her  birthright.  To  make  an 
education  that  should  be  a  means  to  her  future 
happiness  the  instrument  of  her  undoing  can 
be  pardoned,  if  at  all,  only  on  the  score  of 
ignorance.'' 

*'I  had  a  good  illustration  of  that  truth 
yesterday,''  said  Miss  Ruth.     *^I  called  to  see 


2  28    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

Miss  Canfield  In  her  new  position  as  matron 
of  the  Ophthalmic  Hospital.  She  was  nat- 
urally anxious  to  have  the  table  for  the 
doctors  appetizing,  and  so  when,  an  hour  be- 
fore lunch,  the  cook  reported  that  there  was 
nothing  on  hand  for  the  doctors'  luncheon,  I 
expected  her  to  be  annoyed,  but  she  didn't 
seem  so. 

**She  asked  me  to  go  with  her  to  the  kitchen. 
While  we  were  there  she  found  some  small 
pieces  of  chicken  that  were  left  over  from  the 
dinner  of  the  evening  before.  She  directed 
the  cook  to  bake  some  potatoes,  and,  slipping 
on  an  apron,  she  made  some  delicious  ginger 
bread.  In  three-quarters  of  an  hour  she  had 
a  dainty  luncheon  served,  consisting  of  baked 
potatoes,  minced  chicken  on  toast,  hot  ginger 
bread,  home-made  apply  jelly  and  chocolate. 

"In  the  course  of  the  afternoon  one  of  the 
doctors  happened  to  come  into  the  room 
where  we  were  sitting,  and  he  took  occasion 
to  thank  Miss  Canfield  for  the  delicious 
luncheon,  and  vowed  that  if  he  could  find  a 
young  lady  who  could  serve  his  table  in  that 


Domestic  Science  229 

way,  he  would  end  his  bachelor  days  as  soon 
as  she  would  consent/' 

^'Granted,''  said  Professor  Shannon,  *^that 
our  young  women  need  objective  training 
along  the  lines  of  domestic  science;  it  does 
seem  reasonable  that  a  young  woman  who  is 
looking  forward  to  marriage  and  who  expects 
some  day  to  preside  over  a  home  of  her  own 
should  receive  a  training  that  would  fit  her  for 
the  worthy  discharge  of  the  many  duties  that 
devolve  upon  a  wife  and  mother. 

**But  isn't  a  convent  the  last  school  on  earth 
that  might  be  expected  to  give  a  girl  this 
training?  The  mother  is  the  proper  person  to 
train  her  daughter  along  these  lines,  and  if 
her  work  must  be  supplemented  in  the  school, 
the  teacher  should  evidently  be  a  woman  of 
experience,  a  widow,  for  instance,  who  in  her 
day  had  presided  successfully  over  a  home. 
What  can  a  Sister  know  about  managing  a 
husband  and  taking  care  of  babies  and  direct- 
ing a  household?" 

**It  seems  evident,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien,  **that 
the  school  should  supplement  the  home  train- 


230    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

ing  of  the  girl,  and  it  should  not  be  difficult  to 
differentiate  the  work  of  the  school  from  that 
of  the  home.  Our  mechanical  and  mining 
engineers  are  trained  in  theory  in  the  techni- 
cal schools,  while  they  receive  their  practice 
in  the  factory  and  in  the  mine.  And  so,  in 
the  training  of  our  girls,  the  scientific  and 
theoretical  sides  of  the  question  should  be 
handled  in  the  school^  and  the  mother  should 
take  care  of  the  practical  applications  in  the 
home. 

"It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  an  experience  of 
married  life  will  render  the  teacher  more 
competent  to  teach  chemistry,  physiology, 
and  cooking,  or  music  and  aesthetics.  Many 
years  spent  in  the  practice  of  a  trade  is  not 
usually  considered  a  proper  qualification  for 
a  teacher  in  a  school  of  technology.  For  the 
best  results  theory  must  ever  render  practice 
intelligible,  and  practice  must  concrete  theory 
and  render  it  tangible." 

**It  is  strange,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  "that 
men  like  Professor  Shannon,  whose  lives  are 
devoted  to  the  study  of  economic  and  social 


Domestic  Science  231 

problems,  should  fail  to  see  that  the  persons 
who  are  immersed  in  the  details  of  a  subject 
are  unable  to  get  perspective,  or  to  catch  the 
large  lines  of  truth  and  the  relationship  of 
parts. 

**Men  perceived  the  orderly  movements  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  long  centuries  before 
they  understood  that  the  same  laws  govern 
the  movements  of  bodies  in  their  immediate 
vicinity.  Newton  sent  a  thrill  of  exaltation 
through  the  world,  not  by  the  discovery  of 
the  law  of  gravity,  but  by  discovering  that 
the  falling  apple  is  subject  to  the  same  law 
that  holds  the  planets  in  their  orbits. 

**It  is  difficult  to  see  truths  that  are  close 
to  us.  This  finds  expression  in  such  axioms 
as  ^The  doctor  who  prescribes  for  himself 
has  a  fool  for  his  physician,'  and  *No  one  is 
judge  in  his  own  case.'  A  prudent  doctor 
never  prescribes  for  the  members  of  his  own 
household;  they  are  too  near  to  him  and  his 
affections  are  likely  to  blind  his  judgment. 
Similarly,  the  Church  in  her  wisdom  appoints 
a  celibate  clergy,  who  hold  themselves  aloof 


232     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

from  the  business  entanglements  of  the  world 
to  be  the  guides  and  advisers  of  her  children 
in  their  domestic  relations  and  in  the  justice 
and  equity  of  their  business  transactions. 

**And  so,  too,  the  Sister,  from  her  vantage 
ground  in  the  convent,  obtains  perspective. 
She  sees  the  needs  and  tendencies  of  the 
times,  and,  not  being  immersed  in  the  details 
of  home  life,  nor  blinded  by  personal  interest, 
she  Is  enabled  to  take  a  broader  view  and  to 
hold  up  to  her  pupils  a  higher  ideal  of  domes- 
tic life  and  to  guide  them  more  securely  to  its 
attainment.  Her  position  Is  like  that  of  the 
general  who  withdraws  from  the  firing-line 
in  order  to  direct  the  battle." 

*'Could  anything  be  more  fantastic,"  ex- 
claimed Miss  Geddes,  **than  a  nun  in  her 
convent  home  teaching  a  girl  how  to  secure 
domestic  felicity! — a  woman  who  has  given 
herself  up  to  fasting  and  prayer  teaching  a 
girl  how  to  pander  to  the  tastes  of  a  fastidi- 
ous husband! — a  woman  who  has  fled  from 
the  joys  of  motherhood  instructing  a  girl 
concerning  the  proper  care  of  infants!" 


Domestic  Science  233 

"My  dear  Miss  Geddes,  I  am  afraid  that 
you  have  never  measured  the  height  nor  the 
depth  of  the  courage  that  animates  our  Sis- 
ters. It  is  not  that  they  love  home  less,  but 
that  they  love  God  and  their  fellow-beings 
more.  We  would  utterly  fail  to  realize  the 
sublimity  of  their  sacrifice  if  we  were  to  pic- 
ture them  to  ourselves  as  shutting  their  eyes 
to  the  joys  of  the  world,  or  as  abandoning 
home  life  for  the  convent  in  order  to  seek 
their  ease  or  to  escape  the  trials  and  responsi- 
bilities of  ordinary  mortals.  They  look  out 
with  clear  eyes  upon  the  happiness  of  the 
homes  they  have  left;  their  souls  are  filled 
with  visions  of  the  beautiful  homes  that 
might  have  been  theirs  had  they  remained  in 
the  world.  They  devote  their  lives  to  the 
work  of  bringing  the  happiness  that  they 
themselves  have  renounced  into  the  lives  of 
the  many." 

**Why  don't  you  take  to  writing  poetry, 
Studevan?'*  asked  the  Professor;  **it's  a  pity 
to  have  such  sublime  conceptions  limping 
along  in  prose.    But  we  are  here  dealing  with 


2  34     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

eminently  practical  issues.  Society  is  teeming 
with  evidences  of  domestic  infelicity,  and  the 
consequences  are  manifesting  themselves  in 
very  alarming  ways.  If  the  proper  education 
of  our  young  women  will  remedy  these  evils 
in  any  measure,  we  want  to  know  what  the 
proper  education  is  and  where  it  may  be  ob- 
tained ? 

*/From  what  Mrs.  O'Brien  says,  I  take  it 
that  a  long  step  in  advance  would  be  made  by 
instructing  our  girls  in  the  domestic  arts. 
We  are,  therefore,  confronted  with  a  very 
practical  issue  when  we  are  asked  to  decide 
upon  the  relative  merits  of  coeducational  in- 
stitutions and  convent  schools.  Is  a  nun  bet- 
ter qualified  to  teach  the  domestic  arts  than 
are  the  teachers  in  our  secular  institutions? 

**A  few  evenings  ago  you  called  attention 
to  the  heavy  handicap  under  which  the  Sisters 
are  laboring  in  their  attempt  to  teach  the 
ordinary  school  subjects.  The  number  of 
teachers  is  insufficient  to  meet  the  present  de- 
mands; they  are  hampered  for  means  to  give 
their    candidates    the    requisite    professional 


Domestic  Science  235 

training,  or  to  provide  for  the  continuance  of 
their  professional  studies;  and  if,  in  addition 
to  all  this,  household  duties  absorb  their  time 
outside  of  school  hours,  how  can  we  expect 
them  to  master  the  science  and  art  of  teach- 
ing, or  to  meet  these  new  issues?" 

**The  conditions  to  which  you  refer,"  re- 
plied Dr.  Studevan,  **are  neither  universal 
nor  beyond  remedy.  The  conditions  will  be 
found  quite  different  in  many  of  the  stronger 
communities,  but  the  Sisters  are  so  modest, 
and  they  do  their  work  so  quietly,  that  the 
public  at  large  is  not  aware  of  the  splendid 
preparation  that  many  of  their  teachers  re- 
ceive, nor  do  our  Catholic  people  appreciate 
how  anxiously  these  communities  are  striv- 
ing to  perfect  their  members  for  the  duties 
of  their  sublime  vocation  as  teachers.  They 
have  a  very  clear  idea  of  what  is  needed  and 
only  await  the  means,  which  surely  will  not 
be  denied  them,  to  give  their  teachers  the 
best  equipment  that  the  science  of  our  day 
makes  possible.  The  papers  published  in  the 
Catholic  University  Bulletin  for  July,  1907, 


236     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

under  the  head  of  Notes  on  Primary  Educa- 
tion, show  this  very  plainly.  Sister  Antonine, 
writing  on  The  Channels  through  which 
Discoveries  in  Pure  Science  Reach  and 
Modify  the  Work  of  Primary  and  Inter- 
mediate Education,  says: 

**  The  old  idea  that  a  teacher,  like  a  poet, 
is  born,  no  longer  obtains;  the  last  word  on 
the  subject  is  that  he  must  be  made.  He,  too, 
is  the  product  of  our  laboratories.  Science 
has  decreed — and  there  is  no  gainsaying  her 
— that  it  is  not  enough  for  a  teacher  to  have 
natural  aptitude  or  supernatural  motive,  a 
personal  love  for  the  work  or  an  all-absorb- 
ing enthusiasm.  He  must  be  trained.  If  he 
possesses  these  qualities  it  is  well,  but  they 
alone  will  never  take  the  place  of  scientific 
training. 

**  ^Modern  pedagogy  demands  much  from 
the  teacher  and  to  meet  this  constantly  grow- 
ing demand  is  the  raison  d!etre  of  our  train- 
ing schools  and  normal  colleges.   .    .    . 

**  The  importance  of  the  normal  school 
system  can  scarcely  be  overestimated  in  these 


Domestic  Science  237 

days  of  physical  research  and  discoveries  in 
pure  science.  Such  schools  draw  their  facul- 
ties from  the  best  universities  where  they 
have  been  trained  in  methods,  while  their 
students  are  the  future  grade  and  high  school 
teachers.  In  this  peculiar  relation,  the  nor- 
mal schools  form  a  connecting  link  between 
the  universities  and  the  grade  schools,  and 
are  thus  enabled  to  transmit  the  message 
received  from  the  specialists  in  the  one  to  the 
pupils  in  the  other  by  perfecting  the  teacher's 
art  and  formulating  a  future  working  plan 
based  upon  these  discoveries.' 

'^Several  years  ago  there  was  established, 
under  the  shadow  of  the  University  of  Miin- 
ster,  a  Matroneum  into  which  members  of 
various  teaching  sisterhoods  are  gathered, 
where  they  live  under  a  common  rule  during 
the  years  of  their  attendance  at  the  courses 
given  by  the  Professors  of  the  University.  I 
saw  in  a  recent  issue  of  *Rome'  that  the  Eng- 
lish hierarchy  had  obtained  the  sanction  of 
the  Holy  See  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Catholic  woman's  college  at  Oxford.     And 


238    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

let  us  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
we  shall  have  a  Teacher's  College  for  our 
sisterhoods  and  our  Catholic  women  at  the 
Catholic  University  of  America.  This  would 
unify  our  Catholic  school  system  and  at  once 
lift  to  a  higher  plane  of  efficiency  the  work 
of  all  our  Catholic  schools. 

**Our  teaching  sisterhoods  are  making  a 
splendid  effort  to  improve  the  training  of 
their  candidates,  and  the  generosity  of  the 
Catholic  people  of  this  country  will  not  long 
refuse  to  them  the  help  of  which  they  stand 
in  such  sore  need.  Feeling  sure  that  we 
would  all  be  interested  in  first-hand  informa- 
tion concerning  the  training  that  our  Sisters 
are  now  receiving,  I  requested  the  head  of 
one  of  our  representative  teaching  orders  to 
inform  me  on  the  matter.  I  have  her  letter 
here,  from  which,  with  your  permission,  I 
will  read  a  few  extracts. 

"  'In  the  large  well-organized  teaching 
orders,  the  Sisters  who  teach  are  relieved  al- 
most entirely  from  household  duties  and  give 
daily  from  two  to  four  hours  to  preparation 


Domestic  Science  239 

for  their  classes.  It  is  true  that  Sisters  who 
teach  in  parish  schools  which  are  some  dis- 
tance from  the  convent,  and  in  which,  more- 
over, the  sessions  begin  at  a  very  early  hour 
in  the  morning  and  close  at  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  may  have  less  than  two  hours 
for  preparation  on  school  days.  But  these 
Sisters  as  well  as  the  others  devote  Saturday 
and  a  part  of  Sunday  to  the  study  and  read- 
ing that  their  work  requires.  How  many 
teachers  of  the  public  schools  do  as  much  in 
the  midst  of  the  home  duties,  shopping  tours 
and  dressmaking,  social  calls  and  amuse- 
ments, that  fill  their  free  time  and  their  holi- 
days? .   .   . 

**  *The  large  well-organized  teaching  or- 
ders have  training  schools  in  their  novitiates. 
Those  who  govern  these  orders  realize  the 
importance  of  suitable  preparation  for  the 
work  of  teaching,  and  they  would  be  glad  to 
have  all  the  Sisters  who  are  destined  for  that 
work  complete  a  systematic  course  of  study 
during  their  novitiate  and  the  early  years  of 
their  profession. 


240    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

"  *But  under  existing  circumstances,  all  of 
these  Sisters  cannot  be  kept  in  the  training 
school.  Again  and  again  it  happens  that 
promising  classes  doing  earnest  work  are, 
month  after  month,  thinned  out  by  calls  from 
this  parish  and  that,  this  academy  and  that. 
The  Superiors  are  obliged  under  the  stress  of 
circumstances  to  send  out  the  student-teachers 
as  assistant  teachers  to  share  burdens  that 
have  grown  too  heavy  or  to  take  entire  charge 
of  classes  whose  teachers  have  given  out 
under  the  strain  of  over-work. 

'*  'Increase  the  number  of  Sisters,  send 
more  postulants  to  religious  teaching  orders, 
and  in  a  few  years  the  training  schools  will 
have  large  classes  going  through  an  uninter- 
rupted course  of  study  under  mistresses  who 
have  had  years  of  successful  experience  in 
teaching. 

"  'The  Superiors  look  hopefully  for  this 
good  time.  Meanwhile  they  do  the  best  they 
can  to  supply  for  deficiencies.  Every  evening 
teachers  of  more  experience  help  their 
younger  sisters  in  the  preparation  of  school 


Domestic  Science  241 

work.  After  this  has  been  done,  the  teachers 
assemble  for  model  lessons  prepared  by  the 
supervisor  or  under  her  direction.  For  exam- 
ple, lessons  in  reading,  in  number,  **object 
lessons,"  designed  to  give  the  children  new 
ideas,  but  more  especially  to  develop  the 
powers  of  observation. 

**  *In  work  of  more  advanced  grade  there 
are  geography  and  history  lessons,  lessons  in 
the  physical  sciences,  etc.  The  Sisters  submit 
their  school  work  to  the  Superior  and  to  one 
another  for  criticism;  they  expose  their  diffi- 
culties, ask  advice,  and  discuss  views  on 
school  matters.  The  whole  of  Saturday  is 
given  to  study.  There  are  regular  Saturday 
classes  for  the  younger  Sisters.  These  Sisters 
follow,  as  far  as  possible,  the  courses  of  in- 
struction that  would  have  been  given  them 
had  they  remained  in  the  training  school,  and 
they  have  examinations  at  stated  periods. 
Every  teacher  is  required  to  forecast  on 
Saturday  her  work  for  the  coming  week,  and 
to  submit  her  plan  to  the  mistress  of  studies 
or  to  the  Superior. 


242    The  Laucation  of  Our  Girls 

"  *In  many  States  the  parish  schools  are 
visited  by  ecclesiastical  supervisors,  but  in  ad- 
dition to  this  the  Sisters'  schools  have  also  the 
supervision  instituted  by  the  supervisors  of 
the  order  to  which  the  teacher  belongs.  The 
various  communities  of  each  province  are 
visited  from  time  to  time  by  the  Sister  super- 
visors appointed  for  upper  and  for  lower 
grade  work  by  the  Provincial.  These  Sisters 
spend  several  days  in  each  classroom  while 
the  Sister  in  charge  gives  a  lesson  in  every 
branch  she  is  expected  to  teach.  Besides  giv- 
ing private  and  general  criticism  of  this  work 
the  supervisors  give  model  lessons  at  the  even- 
ing assembly  of  the  community. 

"  The  summer  vacation  is  a  time  of  study. 
Each  Sister  plans,  or  has  planned  for  her,  the 
courses  she  must  pursue  either  by  private 
study  or  in  the  regular  classes  that  are  formed 
for  teachers,  in  the  novitiate  training  school, 
or  in  the  summer  schools.  These  assemblies 
are  held  in  large  convents  desirably  located 
at  various  convenient  points  in  the  province. 
The  best  teachers  of  the  order  and,  whenever 


Domestic  Science  243 

necessary,  professors  from  colleges  or  univer- 
sities, give  courses  of  instruction  extending 
through  six  or  eight  weeks.  For  example, 
our  order  held  last  summer,  besides  the  novi- 
tiate school,  six  summer  schools.  Subjects 
suited  to  the  needs  of  elementary  and  gram- 
mar grade  teachers,  academy  and  high  school 
teachers,  and  teachers  of  music  and  drawing 
were  treated,  special  attention  being  given  in 
the  course  of  instruction  to  methods  of  teaching. 
**  With  all  these  helps,  a  Sister  who  has 
any  aptitude  at  all  for  the  work  must  become 
a  good  teacher  in  a  few  years,  even  though 
she  may  not  have  had  all  the  preliminary 
training  that  is  judged  necessary.  Add  to 
this  the  significant  facts  that  Superiors  have 
every  opportunity  for  knowing  the  special  ap- 
titudes as  well  as  the  deficiencies  of  their  sub- 
jects, that  they  make  a  careful  study  of  these 
aptitudes  and,  whenever  possible,  place  each 
Sister  where  her  talents  will  be  developed  and 
used  to  the  best  advantage  while  generous 
support  and  help  will  be  given  to  her  in  those 
matters  in  which  she  is  deficient. 


244  The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

"The  Sister  herself, filled  with  the  thought 
that  she  has  consecrated  her  whole  life  to  the 
sacred  work  of  teaching,  stirred  by  the  desire 
to  make  herself  worthy  of  this  consecration 
and  capable  of  doing  her  work  well,  eagerly 
accepts  the  opportunities  for  self-improve- 
ment offered  by  her  environment;  she  works 
with  an  earnestness  and  perseverance  that  can 
hardly  be  expected  in  the  public  school 
teacher,  who  has,  as  a  general  thing,  adopted 
the  profession  of  teaching  primarily  as  a 
means  of  livelihood  during  the  period  inter- 
vening between  school  days  and  marriage. 

"  'Finally,  a  fact  already  suggested,  but 
worthy  in  itself  of  emphatic  notice,  is  that  the 
religious  teacher  here  spoken  of  never  stands 
alone  or  works  alone;  as  a  member  of  a  well- 
organized  community  and  a  well-organized 
order  she  is  supported  by  the  strength  and  re- 
sources of  a  whole  body  of  educated  women, 
all  animated  by  the  same  spirit  and  working 
for  the  same  ends.'  " 

'^Judging  from  this  letter,"  said  Miss 
Ruth,  **the  sisterhood  in  question  devotes  a 


Domestic  Science  245 

great  deal  of  time  and  energy  both  to  the 
normal  training  of  its  candidates  and  to  the 
continuance  of  the  professional  studies  of  its 
teachers.  But  the  important  question  is  are 
they  adjusting  their  teaching  to  the  demands 
of  the  present  social  and  economic  condi- 
tions? The  conservative  element  is  very 
strong  in  some  of  our  teaching  communities; 
this  is  particularly  true  of  some  of  the  oldest 
and  the  strongest  of  them.  Extensive  drill- 
ing in  antique  methods  does  not  constitute  a 
guarantee  of  good  work.  Many  of  the  com- 
munities do  not  continue  the  professional 
study  of  their  teachers,  neither  do  they  give 
them  adequate  preparatory  training.  I  am 
not  blaming  them  for  this,  I  am  simply  stat- 
ing the  facts  as  I  know  them.  That  the  nor- 
mal school  training  furnished  in  some  in- 
stances, at  least,  is  not  of  the  right  kind  seems 
to  be  borne  out  by  Sister  Antoninc  in  the 
article  in  the  Bulletin  to  which  reference  has 
been  made.  May  I  read  a  few  lines  for  you? 
*'  ^Reference  is  here  made  to  the  ideal  nor- 
mal school.     Unfortunately,  there  is  another 


246   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

kind  where  instructors  who  are  unchanging  in 
their  methods,  who  adhere  painfully  to  old 
traditions,  who  have  long  since  outlived  their 
usefulness  by  isolating  themselves  from  the 
great  educational  movements,  are  neverthe- 
less placed  in  charge  of  our  future  teachers. 
Such  directors  of  the  mental  life  and  growth 
of  young  aspirants  stifle  every  new  thought, 
kill  outright  every  effort  at  originality. 
Their  enthusiasm  died  an  early  death,  easily 
traced  to  mental  starvation;  they  have  not 
kept  in  touch  with  the  latest  developments 
along  educational  lines ;  they  continue  to  teach 
the  theories  and  methods  in  vogue  when  they 
themselves  were  under  normal  school  instruc- 
tion— perhaps  a  generation  or  two  ago. 
There  might  be  no  evil  results  in  pursuing 
such  a  course  in  law  or  in  theology;  but  in 
pedagogy,  the  injury  done  by  such  a  system  is 
incalculable.'  " 

**Sister  Antonine's  criticisms  of  non-pro- 
gressive normal  schools,"  said  Dr.  Studevan, 
^'applies  to  State  normal  schools  quite  as 
truly  as  they  do  to  the  normal  schools  in  con- 


Domestic  Science  247 

nection  with  the  novitiates  of  our  religious 
orders.  Our  sisterhoods,  however,  are  labor- 
ing under  a  very  great  difficulty  in  this  re- 
spect. The  whole  curriculum  and  method  of 
our  modern  school  has  undergone  many  pro- 
found changes  as  a  result  of  the  abnormally 
rapid  development  in  the  physical  sciences 
and  as  a  result  also  of  the  fundamental 
changes  that  have  been  taking  place  in  social 
and  economic  conditions.  Now,  the  Sisters 
must  have  help  in  adjusting  the  training  of 
their  teachers  to  the  new  needs.  Feeling  this 
pressure,  many  of  them  have  sent  their  candi- 
dates to  non-Catholic  universities  and  to 
State  universities,  from  which  all  religion  is 
banished.  For  some  years  the  various 
religious  habits  of  our  teaching  communities 
have  been  a  marked  feature  in  the  audiences 
attending  the  summer  courses  at  these  insti- 
tutions. The  result  of  this  procedure,  how- 
ever, is  proving  disastrous.  Our  Catholic 
girls,  learning  of  the  attendance  of  the  Sisters 
at  these  institutions,  take  this  fact  as  a  suffi- 
cient guarantee  that  the  institutions  arc  in  all 


248    The   Education  of  Our  Girls 

respects  fit  places  for  them  to  pursue  their 
academic  studies.  The  losses  to  religion  In 
this  way  are  likely  to  prove  incalculable  in  the 
near  future. 

**Many  of  the  communities,  realizing  this 
danger  and  remembering  the  Master's  warn- 
ing, *But  he  that  shall  scandalize  one  of  thesQ 
little  ones  that  believe  in  me,  it  were  better 
for  him  that  a  millstone  should  be  hanged 
about  his  neck,  and  that  he  should  be 
drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  seal'  have  re- 
fused to  send  their  members  to  these  institu- 
tions. Of  course  they  realize  fully  that  there 
is  little  danger  to  the  Sisters,  for  their  re- 
ligious life  is  taken  care  of  in  their  convent 
homes.  And,  then,  too,  the  faculties  of  these 
institutions  are  very  careful  not  to  give  offence 
to  the  Sisters,  for  they  know  right  well  that 
the  logic  of  facts  will  make  the  attendance 
of  the  Sisters  at  these  universities  the  best  pos- 
sible argument  against  the  existence  of  Cath- 
olic schools  and  colleges.  And,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  our  Catholic  youth  of  both  sexes 
i  have  been  flocking  to  these  institutions  in  ever 


Domestic  Science  249 

increasing  numbers  during  the  past  few 
years. 

**These  same  communities  have  not  ceased 
to  hope  for  the  time  when  their  candidates 
will  receive  the  best  and  most  modern  train- 
ing in  Catholic  teachers'  colleges.  And  in  the 
meanwhile  the  brightest  of  their  members  are 
enrolled  in  the  correspondence  courses  in  the 
pedagogical  department  of  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity. They  have  high  ideals  of  what  the 
training  of  the  teacher  should  be  and  they 
will  not  rest  content  until  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity makes  some  adequate  provision  for 
their  needs.  This  ideal  is  well  set  forth  in 
Sister  Antonine's  paper  in  this  brief  passage: 

"  *Those  preparing  for  the  position  of 
teacher  should  be  under  the  direction  of 
specialists,  the  product  of  our  best  university 
training;  men  keenly  alive  to  the  great  impor- 
tance of  the  noble  work  in  question;  steeped 
in  the  new  methods  of  investigation;  men 
fully  aware  of  the  possibilities  of  the  science 
and  art  of  education  in  the  schoolroom;  sym- 
pathetic to  the  struggle  in  every  true  teacher's 


250    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

soul  between  the  ideal  and  the  real  conditions 
that  hold  in  modern  school  life;  men  realizing 
fully  the  power  in  a  school  or  in  a  community 
of  even  one  live  teacher  thoroughly  prepared 
for  scientific  work/  " 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  Woman's  College  of  the  Future 

"Dr.  Studevan,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien,  "wc 
are  waiting  for  you  to  appoint  the  evening  for 
our  parlor  lecture." 

"Any  time  will  suit  me.  How  will  next 
Friday  evening  do?" 

"Are  there  any  objections  to  next  Friday 
evening?"  asked  Mr.  O'Brien.  "If  not,  the 
motion  is  carried.  Remember,  each  of  you 
is  to  bring  any  of  your  friends  who  may  be 
looking  for  an  opportunity  to  do  something 
of  permanent  value  for  the  cause  of  Catholic 
education." 

"There  are  some  phases  of  coeducation  that 
I  would  like  to  have  cleared  up  before  your 
lecture.  Doctor,"  said  Professor  Shannon. 
"That  is,  unless  you  intend  to  deal  with  them 
in  your  lecture. 

"Even  if  we  grant  the  contention  that 
woman  needs  training  in  needle  work,  domes- 


252     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

tic  science,  the  care  of  babies  and  several  other 
subjects  that  find  no  place  in  a  man's  educa- 
tion, still  I  do  not  see  why,  with  the  elective 
system  that  now  generally  obtains  in  our  uni- 
versities, this  may  not  be  accomplished,  even 
though  the  institution  be  coeducational.  Our 
young  women  need  training  in  literature, 
physics,  chemistry,  biology,  and  in  many  other 
branches  which  are  universally  recognized  as 
necessary  parts  of  man's  education.  Why, 
therefore,  should  the  boys  and  girls  not  meet 
in  these  classes  and  separate  when  it  comes  to 
a  question  of  the  studies  which  are  peculiarly 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  each  sex?" 

**In  looking  over  the  files  of  the  Indepen- 
dent the  other  day,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  **I 
found  in  the  issue  of  February  12,  1903,  an 
article  by  Henry  Finck  on  *Why  Coeducation 
Is  Losing  Ground.'  In  this  article  he  touches 
your  question  and  incidentally  lends  confirma- 
tion to  much  of  what  I  have  been  saying.  Let 
me  read  a  page  for  you. 

'*  When  women  began,  some  decades  ago, 
to  seek  the  higher  education  in  considerable 


Woman^s  College  of  the  Future   253 

numbers,  nearly  all  of  them  intended  to  be- 
come teachers  or  to  compete  with  men  other- 
wise. Therefore,  it  seemed  a  matter  of 
course  that  they  should  receive  the  same 
training.  .  .  .  But  at  Bryn  Mawr  two-thirds 
of  the  students  have  no  expectation  of  sup- 
porting themselves.  In  schools  in  general, 
especially  the  coeducational  institutions  which 
monopolize  the  West,  the  proportion  of  girls 
who  expect  to  be  supported  by  husbands  is 
much  greater  still.  Indeed,  the  census  figures 
show  that  the  country  through  ninety  of  every 
hundred  women  get  married  and  this  brings 
us  to  the  principal  reason  why  belief  in  coedu- 
cation is  losing  ground.  Parents  are  asking 
themselves  more  and  more  frequently,  * 'Shall 
our  educational  system  continue  to  be  adapted 
to  the  ten  per  cent,  of  the  women  who  do  not 
marry,  or  should  it  be  adapted  to  the  ninety 
per  cent,  who  do  marry?"  This  growing  feel- 
ing against  mixed  schools  would  have  swept 
many  of  them  out  of  existence  long  ago  were 
it  not  for  the  unfortunate  fact  that  the 
separate  colleges  for  women  have  not  done 


254   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

their  full  duty.  They  have  so  far  failed  to 
adapt  their  courses  to  the  special  needs  of 
women  who  are  destined  to  be  wives,  mothers, 
homemakers.  .  .  .  We  may  go  further  and 
say  that  in  most  of  our  educational  institutions 
all  the  students  are  trained  for  fatherhood — 
the  girls  as  well  as  the  boys!'  " 

"Apart  from  his  startling  climax,  Mr. 
Finck  seems  to  support  my  contention,"  said 
Professor  Shannon.  **If  women's  colleges 
have  not  adapted  their  courses  to  meet  the 
special  needs  of  women,  they  are  open  to  all 
the  objections  which  you  have  urged  against 
coeducational  institutions,  while  they  lack  the 
undoubted  advantages  that  are  offered  by 
them." 

'That  is  always  the  way  with  you.  Shan- 
non, you  run  off  with  half-baked  conclusions. 
Women's  colleges  are  comparatively  new  in- 
stitutions, they  are  frequently  hampered  by 
want  of  financial  support,  particularly  in  the 
West,  where  they  are  wholly  private,  whereas 
the  coeducational  institutions  of  the  West  are 
part  of  the  State  system. 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  255 

**But  because  women's  colleges  have  not 
reached  their  full  development  up  to  the  pres- 
ent is  a  very  poor  reason  for  supposing  that 
they  shall  not  do  so  in  the  near  future.  All 
the  logic  of  the  situation  is  on  their  side,  and 
they  have  in  themselves  large  possibilities  of 
adjustment  to  woman's  needs,  which  are  not 
to  be  found  in  coeducational  institutions,  how- 
ever powerful  these  latter  may  be  from  a  finan- 
cial point  of  view." 

**Mr.  Finck  was  evidently  not  thinking  of 
the  colleges  for  women  conducted  by  our  sis- 
terhoods," said  Miss  Ruth.  **Our  convent 
schools  have  always  aimed  at  fitting  their 
pupils  for  domestic  life.  On  a  recent  visit  to 
one  of  our  convent  libraries  I  found  a  copy  of 
the  first  edition  of  the  *Ursuline  Rule.'  The 
book  was  published  in  France  something  over 
two  hundred  years  ago,  and  I  was  not  a  little 
surprised  to  find  in  it  explicit  directions  for 
the  training  of  their  pupils  in  domestic  science ; 
needlework,  cooking,  housekeeping,  were  all 
included  in  the  course. 

**Conditions  have  changed  radically  since 


256     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

that  time,  but  there  is  every  reason  to  hope 
that  the  institutions  that  were  able  to  adjust 
their  courses  of  instruction  to  the  needs  of  the 
time  in  the  past  will  be  able  to  meet  the  new 
conditions  with  equal  success.  In  the  zeal 
and  devotion  of  their  members  the  sisterhoods 
have  resources  which  far  outweigh  the  su- 
perior financial  backing  of  coeducational  in- 
stitutions. 

''No  one  who  reads  the  paper  on  motor  and 
manual  training  in  the  July  Bulletin  will  have 
any  misgivings  about  the  adjustment  of  such 
colleges  as  St.  Clara's  to  the  needs  of  the 
hour.    Let  me  read  a  brief  passage  from  it. 

*'  'Manual  training  cannot  be  neglected  if 
the  whole  child  is  to  be  educated.  This  is  an 
accepted  conclusion  among  educators,  and  one, 
too,  which  has  been  established  beyond  doubt 
both  by  argument  and  experiment.  A  general 
education  in  this  line  will  have  an  important 
bearing  on  the  pupil's  future  vocation  and  suc- 
cess in  life.  The  mind  and  hand  are  trained 
together,  and  there  is  thus  begun  a  connecting 
link  between  the  world  of  thought  and  that  of 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  257 

action.  By  its  means  energies  which  might  al- 
ways have  remained  latent  are  roused,  inter- 
ested and  held.  Through  it  result  or  should 
result  aesthetic  products  of  handicraft  which 
satisfy  even  the  spiritual  wants  of  mankind. 
...  In  the  school  kitchen  are  learned  lessons 
regarding  hygiene  and  nutrition,  and  in  the 
sewing  room,  lessons  in  care,  thrift,  economy, 
and  neatness.  ...  In  fact,  it  dignifies  manual 
labor,  and  makes  education  democratic  rather 
than  aristocratic^  for  it  attends  to  the  needs 
of  the  many  rather  than  to  the  culture  of  the 
few.  If  this  branch  were  properly  taught 
everywhere,  the  schools  would  no  longer  be 
blamed  for  increasing  discontent  and  for 
merely  cultivating  capacity  to  feel  wants,  with- 
out providing  means  for  satisfying  them.' 

**But  to  return  to  Mr.  Finck's  article,  what 
kind  of  specific  training  does  he  advocate  for 
girls?'' 

^'There  is  more  of  the  spirit  of  true 
progress,"  said  Dr.  Studevan,  **in  the  little 
paper  which  you  have  just  been  reading  than 
in  anything  that  is  contained  in  Mr.  Finck's 


258    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

article.  Nevertheless,  his  thoughts  are  worth 
attending  to  and  his  suggestions  are  along 
practical  lines.  He  would  have  the  teachers 
taught  the  kindergarten  system;  he  would 
have  all  our  girls  trained  in  the  duties  of  a 
nurse,  in  hygiene,  and  sanitation  in  general,  in 
cookery  with  all  its  kindred  branches,  in  mar- 
keting, food  adulterants,  and  gastronomy  in 
general. 

*  Whether  or  not  we  agree  with  Mr.Finck's 
ideas  as  to  what  should  constitute  the  training 
of  a  woman  who  is  destined  to  be  a  home- 
maker,  it  seems  evident  to  me  that  even  in 
such  branches  as  literature,  geography,  chem- 
istry, and  biology,  which  should  form  part  of 
the  education  of  both  boys  and  girls,  the  point 
of  departure  and  the  source  of  interest  are  dif- 
ferent for  the  two  sexes,  and  hence  they  can 
be  taught  more  effectively  to  each  sex 
separately. 

**I  have  expressed  my  views  on  this  sub- 
ject several  times,  but  it  occurs  to  me  that 
Miss  Ruth  has  been  asking  questions  and  pro- 
posing  difficulties   instead  of  giving  us  her 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  259 

ideas  concerning  the  education  that  is  best 
fitted  to  meet  the  needs  of  our  young  women." 

**Now  youVe  said  it/'  said  Mr.  O'Brien. 
**She  has  been  diligently  gleaning  the  field, 
and  it  is  about  time  she  paid  her  tribute.'' 

**I  am  not  quite  clear  on  the  subject,"  re- 
plied Miss  Ruth.  **I  have  been  trying  very 
hard  to  get  my  ideas  straightened  out.  I  am 
responsible  for  the  education  of  my  little 
niece,  who  is  now  twelve  years  old,  and  I  must 
soon  come  to  a  practical  conclusion.  I  don't 
yet  know  where  to  educate  her. 

**I  want  her  when  she  leaves  school  to  have 
certain  ideals.  I  want  her  to  have  a  woman's 
heart  that  will  impel  her  to  help  a  brother  or 
a  sister  in  need  without  too  much  counting  of 
the  cost.  I  want  her  to  have  a  sufficiently  level 
head  to  keep  her  heart  from  leading  her  into 
anything  very  imprudent.  I  want  her  to  have 
a  wholesome  self-respect.  I  want  her  to  know 
that  others  are  not  necessarily  wrong  and  fit 
subjects  for  unkind  criticism  just  because  they 
do  not  think  and  speak  and  act  just  as  she  and 
her  set  do.     I  want  her  always  to  speak  the 


26o    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

truth.  I  want  her  to  be  able  to  speak  and 
write  her  mother  tongue,  at  least,  correctly 
and  easily,  and  then  know  when  to  keep  still, 
and  when  to  talk.  I  want  her  to  enjoy  good 
literature  and  beauty  In  all  Its  forms.  I  want 
her  to  take  an  interest  In  affairs  outside  of  her 
immediate  duties.  I  would  want  her  to  be  a 
good  housekeeper.  I  want  her  to  know  the 
foundation  principles  governing  the  physical, 
mental,  and  moral  up-bringing  of  children.  I 
want  her  to  have  a  cheerful  disposition,  a 
strong  sense  of  humor,  gracious  manners,  and 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom. 

"As  I  think  of  it,  her  ideals  should  be  in 
three  particulars,  at  least,  those  of  Chaucer's 
Very  parfalt,  gentle  knight;'  she  should  love 
*truthe  and  honour,  freedom  and  courteisye.' 
Freedom  is  a  magnificent  word,  there  is 
a  large  fascination  about  it,  perhaps  because 
the  state  It  expresses  is  unattainable;  but  I 
reckon  my  little  girl  would  better  be  taught 
from  the  beginning  to  call  It  service.  And  so, 
you  see,  her  characteristics  are  to  conform  in 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  261 

three  parts  to  the  ideal  masculine.  Where 
shall  she  be  educated?  I  don't  know.  I 
should  want  to  keep  her  at  home  until  her 
ideals  were  formed  —  well  sprouted  anyway. 
What  would  you  do  with  her,  Mrs.  O'Brien?'' 

**Mary  is  attending  the  Sisters'  school,  and 
Miles  and  I  are  delighted  with  her  progress. 
When  she  graduates  from  the  academy  we 
hope  to  send  her  to  a  woman's  college  con- 
ducted by  the  Sisters.  I  would  be  afraid  to 
trust  my  little  girl  anywhere  else.  I  want  her 
to  spend  all  her  school  days  in  an  atmosphere 
that  is  permeated  with  Catholic  thought  and 
feeling.  Whether  she  becomes  a  Sister  or  not 
I  want  the  sweet,  devoted  lives  of  the  Sisters 
to  exert  the  fullest  possible  influence  on  the 
formation  of  her  character. 

"We  have  not  yet  decided  on  the  college  to 
which  we  will  send  her;  there  are  many 
things  to  be  considered.  We  want  her  to  re- 
ceive a  thorough  training  in  domestic  science 
and  in  all  those  subjects  which  will  help  to 
make  her  future  home  happy,  and  we  would 
like  to  place  her  in  a  college  where  she  would 


262     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

enjoy  some  social  advantages.  A  girl  during 
her  college  years  should  learn  to  meet  men 
and  to  adjust  herself  to  their  point  of  view." 

**But  aren't  women's  colleges,"  said  Profes- 
sor Shannon,  **doing  what  President  Harper 
set  out  to  do  in  Chicago  University  ?  Aren't 
they  teaching  women  the  same  things  that  are 
taught  to  men  and  teaching  them  in  the  same 
way?" 

**At  the  State  University  which  I  attended," 
said  Miss  Geddes,  *'there  was  practical  segre- 
gation, because  the  men  and  women  seldom 
selected  the  same  subjects;  yet  there  was 
enough  mingling  of  the  sexes  to  give  the  girls 
something  of  the  broader,  more  impersonal 
view  of  a  question  that  a  manly  man  takes. 
As  far  as  my  observation  goes,  I  like  the  prod- 
uct of  coeducation  better  than  that  of  the 
woman's  college." 

**I  brought  along  Munsey's  Magazine  for 
February,  1906,  containing  the  article  by 
G.  Stanley  Hall  on  coeducation  that  was  re- 
ferred to  the  other  night,"  said  Dr.  Studevan. 
'*That  the  presidents  of  two  great  universities. 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  263 

such  as  Clark  and  Leland  Stanford,  should 
make  coeducation  the  subject  of  magazine  ar- 
ticles is  in  itself  sufficiently  indicative  of  the 
present  widespread  interest  in  the  subject. 
Some  passages  in  President  Hall's  article 
cover  ground  that  has  already  been  gone  over 
in  our  discussion.  Let  me  read  a  few  extracts 
for  you. 

"  *The  thirty  years'  war  which  women  have 
conducted  for  educational  opportunities  equal 
to  those  of  men  has  now,  for  the  most  part, 
been  won,  or  is  sure  soon  to  be  won,  all  along 
the  line.  It  was  a  holy  war,  and  will  forever 
mark  an  epoch  not  only  in  the  history  of 
woman,  but  of  civilization.  There  are  few 
men  now  living  so  conservative  as  to  wish  to 
take  any  backward  step.  The  educational 
movement  has  been  accompanied  by  a  great 
social  movement  that  has  freed  women  from 
many  gross  limitations  and  opened  a  new 
world  of  opportunities  and  influences.  It  has 
had  its  great  leaders,  and  even  its  specialists, 
as  well  as  its  literature,  its  epochs,  and  its 
dramatic  incidents.     Measured  by  about  all 


264     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

the  pedagogic  standards  that  can  be  named, 
women  have  abundantly  proven  their  intel- 
lectual equality  with  men,  whom,  in  most 
high  schools  and  colleges,  and  in  many  if  not 
most  subjects,  they  actually  outrank.  In  all 
this  I  both  believe  and  rejoice. 

"  *It  is  not  yet  so  well  recognized  that  we 
have  reached  a  new  educational  stage,  and 
that  the  time  is  now  ripe  for  important  new 
departures.  First,  equality  of  opportunity 
had  to  be  attained,  and  ability  to  utilize 
it  practically  demonstrated ;  but  now  that  this 
has  been  done,  the  next  step  of  differentiation 
is  in  order.  No  less  momentous  changes  im- 
pend, but  all  the  problems  are  of  a  different 
order  and  in  a  very  different  field,  and  their 
solution  will  require  the  labors  of  new  leaders 
working  by  new  and  far  more  special  methods. 

**  'The  old  war  assumed  equality,  if  not 
identity,  of  abilities  between  the  two  sexes, 
and  this  was  genetically  and  strategically  wise. 
The  new  movement  is  based  upon  sexual  dif- 
ferences, not  identities.' 

"The  whole  article  is  well  worth  our  study, 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  265 

but  his  statement,  quoted  here  the  other  even- 
ing, that  ten  years  after  graduation  fifty  per 
cent,  of  our  college  women  remain  unmarried, 
is  sufficient  proof  of  his  main  thesis  that  the 
college  education  of  men  and  women  must  in 
the  future  be  conducted  along  different  lines 
and  with  special  reference  to  the  needs  of  each 
sex  and  to  their  special  functions  in  society. 
After  pointing  out  the  menace  to  the  public 
welfare  in  the  feminization  of  education,  he 
goes  on  to  say : 

"  The  bottom  facts,  however,  from  which 
we  can  never  get  away,  are  that  men  and 
women  differ  in  their  bodily  constitution,  their 
organs,  their  biological  and  their  physiologi- 
cal functions.  This  divergence  is  most 
marked  and  sudden  in  the  pubescent  period, 
when  by  almost  world-wide  consent  boys  and 
girls  separate  more  or  less,  and,  during  this 
most  critical  period  of  inception,  lead  lives 
more  or  less  apart  for  a  few  years,  until  the 
ferment  of  body  and  mind,  which  results  in 
the  maturity  of  the  functions  then  born  and 
culminating  in  nubility,  has  done  its  work.    At 


266     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

twelve  or  fourteen,  brothers  and  sisters  de- 
velop interests  more  independent  of  each  other 
than  before;  their  home  occupations,  plays, 
games,  tastes  differ.  We  should  respect  this 
law,  and  not  forget  that  motherhood  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  fatherhood,  so  that 
neither  sex  should  copy  or  set  patterns  for  the 
other,  but  each  should  play  its  part  in  the 
great  harmony. 

**  *So,  too,  civilization  differentiates.  In 
savagery,  men  and  women  are  more  alike  in 
their  physical  structure,  and  often  in  their  oc- 
cupations. But  with  real  progress  the  sexes 
diverge.  Among  primitive  races  there  is 
sometimes  very  little  difference  in  the  habits  of 
industry  or  the  form  of  the  body  to  dis- 
tinguish the  sexes;  but,  as  Professor  Hyatt 
used  to  urge,  differentiation  and  civilization 
are  practically  synonymous,  and  equalization 
means  retrogression.  Education  should  push 
sex  distinctions  to  their  uttermost,  make  boys 
more  manly  and  girls  more  womanly.  .  .  . 
Sex  tension  is  one  of  the  subtlest  and  most 
potent  of  all  psychological  agencies.     Each 


Woman^s  College  of  the  Future  267 

ought  to  find  the  presence  of  the  other  the 
tonic  and  stimulus  to  its  very  highest  and  best 
achievements,  but  incessant  and  prolonged 
familiarity  wears  down  this  idealizing  influ- 
ence to  the  dull  monotony  of  the  daily  routine/ 

**Stanley  Hall  is  the  best  known  authority 
in  the  country  on  the  psychology  of  adoles- 
cence, and  on  this  account  alone  his  view  will 
necessarily  carry  great  weight,  but  he  does  not 
rely  on  his  psychological  preeminence;  he 
backs  up  his  statements  with  an  array  of  facts 
gleamed  from  the  experiment  in  coeducation 
that  we  are  making  on  so  large  a  scale." 

'*Other  college  men  do  not  think  as  poorly 
of  woman  as  Stanley  Hall  seems  to,"  said 
Miss  Geddes.  '*I  have  clipped  out  this  news- 
paper account  of  Mr.  Meekins'  address  to  the 
alumnae  of  the  College  of  Notre  Dame,  of 
Maryland.    Let  me  read  it  for  you. 

"  *Mr.  Lynn  R.  Meekins,  who  delivered 
the  address  of  the  day,  said  that  the  one  thing 
shown  most  forcibly  by  literature,  past  and 
present,  is  man's  failure  to  recognize  the  pos- 
sibilities of  woman.    That  is  to  be  changed. 


268    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

Man  has  written  the  books,  and  they  tell  of 
man.  There  is  not  a  real  history  of  the  world. 
There  is  lacking  particularly  a  good  history 
of  America.  We  are  sadly  in  need  of  some- 
thing that  will  approach  a  historical  sketch  of 
our  own  State. 

"  *It  is  impossible  to  get  from  what  we  call 
history  even  a  fairly  good  account  of  woman's 
work  and  her  relation  to  human  advancement. 
She  simply  hasn't  received  the  credit  for  what 
she  has  done.  That  paragon  of  modesty, 
man,  has  taken  it  all.  Occasionally,  conscious 
of  his  sins,  he  has  burst  forth  in  eulogy  upon 
the  glory  of  womanhood.  But  eulogies  do  not 
count,  except  as  epitaphs  and  at  funerals. 
What  is  needed  is  clear  acknowledgment  of 
woman's  part  in  human  affairs. 

"  *The  future  woman  will  marry  and  she 
will  not  be  the  sweet  silent  partner  who  will 
believe  in  an  eight-hour  day  for  her  husband 
and  a  sixteen-hour  day  for  herself.  She  will 
not  consider  the  highest  joy  of  life  the  cook- 
ing of  a  Sunday  dinner  for  a  large  number  of 
her  husband's  friends  and  relatives.    The  fu- 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  269 

ture  woman  is  going  to  make  more  of  her 
time,  to  fill  it  with  effort  along  intelligent 
lines.  She  is  going  to  systematize  the  home 
and  solve  the  problems  of  the  home. 

**  ^Behind  every  one  of  the  moral  uplifts 
which  we  have  known  in  recent  years  has  been 
the  moral  power  of  the  women.  Whatever 
woman  has  done,  whatever  she  is  doing,  what- 
ever she  may  do,  there  is  no  service  greater 
or  better  or  more  beautiful  than  the  help 
which  she  gives  and  which  compels  from  such 
a  writer  as  Rudyard  Kipling  the  confession 
that  *Vhen  a  man  does  good  work  out  of  all 
proportion  to  his  pay,  in  seven  cases  out  of  nine 
there  is  a  woman  at  the  back  of  his  virtue."  ' 

^'Nevertheless,  we  should  not  forget,''  said 
the  Professor,  *'that  David  Starr  Jordan, 
President  of  Leland  Stanford  University,  and 
ex-President  of  the  National  Teachers'  Asso- 
ciation, defends  the  opposite  view  in  Munsey's 
for  March,  1906.  He  claims  that  coeduca- 
tion has  been  tried  and  that  it  has  proved  an 
unqualified  success  in  the  West." 

**That  depends  on  what  he  understands  as 


270     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

success,"  replied  Dr.  Studevan.  **In  his  own 
university  the  number  of  women  was  limited 
by  its  constitution  to  five  hundred,  and  it  is 
said  by  many  who  are  in  a  position  to  know 
that  this  constitutional  provision  saved  Leland 
Stanford  from  becoming  practically  a  woman's 
college.  If  the  number  of  women  attending 
Western  universities  is  a  proof  of  the  success 
of  coeducation,  then  President  Jordan  is  cor- 
rect. The  whole  question  of  Coeducation  ver- 
sus the  Higher  Education  of  Women  re- 
solves itself,  therefore,  into  the  question  of 
what  constitutes  the  proper  ideal  for  a  college 
woman.  This  theme  formed  the  subject  of 
Dr.  Pace's  address  to  the  graduates  of  Trinity 
College  in  June,  1904,  and  it  was  published 
in  part  in  Vol.  II.  of  the  Report  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  Education  for  that  year  (page 
2426) .  I  can  not  do  better  than  read  a  short 
extract  for  you  to  close  this  discussion. 

*'  The  ideal  of  the  college  woman,  as  we 
understand  it,  is  threefold.  In  the  first  place, 
the  college  woman  is  one  who  has  received 
much,  she  is  one  who  during  her  collegiate 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future   271 

experience  has  come  to  know  the  greatest 
minds  of  the  past,  who  has  dwelt  with  the 
thoughts  and  the  deeds  and  the  aims  of  the 
greatest  minds  of  antiquity;  she  is  one  who, 
perhaps,  may  not  know  by  direct  experience 
the  world  for  which  she  is  preparing,  but  she 
is  one  who  has  learned  of  a  greater  world,  the 
world  from  which  we  draw  our  culture,  our 
refinement,  our  civilization,  and  our  religion, 
and  because  during  these  four  years  the  col- 
lege woman  has  been  associated  spiritually 
with  the  great  minds  of  that  past,  she  looks 
out  upon  the  world  of  the  present  from 
a  higher  point  of  view,  from  a  point  of  view 
that  is  more  spiritual,  that  is  deeper,  and  in 
a  certain  sense  more  filled  with  the  practical 
ideas  of  solid  wisdom. 

**  *The  college  woman,  moreover,  is  one  who 
has  kept  much,  one  who  in  dealing  with  the 
treasures  of  the  past  has  not  merely  handled 
them  and  set  them  aside,  but  who  has  stored 
up  in  her  own  mind  wisdom,  in  her  own  heart 
strength,  so  that  there  within  her  being  there 
is  created  a  sanctuary  to  which  in  her  thoughts 


2/2    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

she  may  retire,  she  may  withdraw  from  the 
clamor  and  distractions  and  disturbance  of 
the  world  and  find  within  herself  the  source 
of  her  strength.  The  college  woman  who 
has  been  really  educated  along  the  right  lines 
does  not  go  beyond  herself,  beyond  the  sphere 
of  her  own  activities  to  find  her  pleasures,  to 
find  her  consolations,  to  find  her  strength — for 
education,  if  it  means  anything,  means  that 
there  has  been  created  within  the  mind  the 
source  of  genuine  pleasure,  of  best  consola- 
tion, and  of  greatest  strength. 

**  The  college  woman  is  one  who  has  not 
only  received  much  and  kept  much,  but  who 
is  able  to  give  and  who  gives  much.  It  is  a 
false  idea  to  think  that  the  woman  educated 
in  college  is  one  who  has  learned  to  live  among 
books  alone,  is  one  who  treasures  her  culture, 
her  refinement,  for  herself  alone;  but  at  the 
proper  time  and  in  the  proper  circumstances, 
guided  by  that  inner  instinct  which  comes 
from  culture  and  education,  the  college 
woman  is  able  to  go  forth  as  through  the  gates 
of  the  sanctuary  to  dispense  upon  others  the 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future   273 

blessings  which  she  herself  has  received.  The 
college  woman,  because  she  is  cultured,  does 
not  thereby  look  down  upon  those  who  have 
not  had  the  same  advantages;  on  the  contrary, 
culture  means  a  broadening  out  of  her  sym- 
pathies, she  is  ready  to  enter  into  every  good 
work  and  help  those  who  strive  to  uplift 
others ;  consequently  wherever  we  find  a  genu- 
ine college  woman  we  find  that  she  is  the 
medium,  the  channel  of  communication,  be- 
tween all  the  culture,  all  the  spiritual  inheri- 
tance of  the  race,  and  the  entire  race  as  it 
exists  at  present. 

**  *Now,  if  that  be,  in  a  general  way,  the 
idea  of  the  college  woman,  what  shall  we  say 
of  the  college  woman  in  our  country?  Are 
there  not  here  conditions  which  define  in  a 
special  way  the  sphere  and  the  work  of  the 
educated  woman?  We  have  only  to  glance 
back,  I  will  not  say  over  our  political  history, 
but  over  our  educational  history,  to  see  that 
by  the  very  growth  of  our  institutions  there 
has  been  prepared  a  special  task  for  those  who 
receive  collegiate  education,  and  why?     Be- 


274     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

cause  in  this  country,  by  the  very  fact  that 
there  is  a  larger  liberty,  by  the  very  fact  that 
it  is  a  democracy,  there  is  greater  call  for  that 
restraint,  that  self-control,  that  balance  of 
thought  and  action,  which  is  implied  in  college 
education,  and  because  in  our  democratic 
country  women  have  a  larger  opportunity  than 
in  any  other  country  to  exercise  those  powers 
which  are  peculiarly  their  own.  It  is  true 
with  this  democratic  spirit  America  has  pro- 
gressed as  no  other  country  has  during  these 
last  two  or  three  centuries.  We  were  accus- 
tomed to  say,  and  educators  even  up  to  the 
last  few  years  have  been  accustomed  to  regard, 
that  in  the  American  life  there  were  too  many 
tendencies  of  a  material  sort,  that  progress  for 
us  meant  simply  advance  in  wealth  and  in  the 
development  of  material  resources;  but  to-day 
it  is  fairly  recognized  that  alongside  of  this 
material  progress,  nay,  more,  that  by  dint  of 
this  material  progress,  there  is  also  progress  of 
a  higher  kind.  The  intellectual  progress  of 
this  country  is  much  more  conspicuous  to-day 
than  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  hence 


Woman's  College  of  the  Future  275 

the  woman  who  is  to  take  part  in  the  national 
life  must  be  a  woman  prepared  to  recognize 
what  is  good  in  American  life,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  distinguish  it  from  any  tendencies  that 
might  make  for  evil.'  " 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  Homemakers  of  the  Future 

**Ladies  and  gentlemen,"  said  Mr.  O'Brien, 
**Mrs.  O'Brien  insists  that  an  introduction  of 
the  speaker  of  the  evening  is  de  rigeur,  and, 
being  a  product  of  modern  education,  I  never 
question  my  wife's  judgment  on  matters  of 
this  kind;  nevertheless,  I  find  myself  at  an 
utter  loss  for  an  appropriate  speech  on  this 
occasion.  I  remember  hearing  some  one  say 
the  other  evening  that  the  college-bred  woman 
of  to-day  has  a  delightful  habit  of  writing  her 
husband's  speeches  for  him,  and  so,  in  my  sore 
need,  I  appealed  to  my  wife  for  help,  and  she 
informed  me  that  an  introduction  should 
always  tell  who  the  speaker  is  and  what  he  is 
going  to  talk  about. 

**I  believe  you  all  know  Dr.  Studevan  quite 
as  well  as  I  do — I  was  going  to  say  that  you 
admired  him  more,  but,  on  second  thought,  I 
believe  that  is  not  possible.     However,  were 


The  Homemakers  of  the  Future  277 

he  not  present,  I  might  be  able  to  tell  you  a 
few  things  about  him  which  you  do  not  know, 
but  his  well-known  modesty  deprives  me  of 
this  opportunity  of  arousing  the  envy  of  his 
many  friends  who  have  honored  us  with  their 
presence  here  to-night. 

**At  dinner,  a  little  while  ago,  I  asked  him 
what  he  was  going  to  talk  about  this  evening, 
and  he  answered  by  relating  an  incident  that 
occurred  at  the  rectory  the  other  day.  The 
assistant,  who  is  a  modest  young  man  with  a 
good  deal  of  common  sense,  came  to  the 
Doctor  for  advice.  ^Doctor,'  said  he,  *how  is 
it;  you  don't  seem  to  give  any  time  to 
the  preparation  of  your  sermons  and  yet  every- 
body comes  to  hear  you,  and  they  remember 
everything  you  say.  Now,  I  write  out  my 
sermons  and  work  hard  over  them  all  week, 
and  yet  I  don't  seem  to  make  any  impression 
on  the  congregation.'  That's  just  it,'  said  the 
Doctor.  When  you  are  writing  your  ser- 
mon Monday  morning  the  devil  is  looking 
over  your  shoulder  and,  when  he  has  learned 
what  you  are  going  to  say,  he  goes  around 


278     The  Education  of  Our   Girls 

through  the  parish  preparing  the  people 
against  you.  But  when  I  appear  in  the  pulpit 
on  Sunday  morning  the  devil  himself  doesn't 
know  what  Fm  going  to  say/  So,  you  see, 
there  is  nothing  for  me  to  do  but  to  present 
Dr.  Studevan  to  you,  and  he  himself  will  tell 
you  what  he  is  going  to  talk  about." 

**My  dear  friends,"  said  Dr.  Studevan, 
**it  is,  indeed,  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  meet 
you  here  to-night.  The  task  before  me,  how- 
ever, is  much  more  difficult  than  the  preaching 
of  one  of  those  impromptu  sermons  to  which 
our  genial  host  has  just  referred.  It  is  one 
thing  to  move  along  with  the  sublime  truths 
of  religion  and  morality  in  the  unchanging 
currents  of  the  Church's  teaching,  and  quite 
another  to  hold  an  even  keel  in  addressing  an 
audience  like  this  on  so  tentative  a  subject  as 
coeducation  and  the  higher  education  of 
woman,  where  there  are  so  many  uncertain 
currents  of  thought  and  when  one  knows  not 
from  what  quarter  of  the  heavens  he  may  en- 
counter a  sudden  gust  of  feeling. 

**We  are  entering  into  a  phase  of  civiliza- 


The  Homemakers  of  the  Future  279 

tion  in  which  everything  is  new  and  strange. 
It  is  a  world  filled  with  wonders.  It  is  a 
world  where  the  impossible  happens  every 
hour.  Invention  has  driven  man  and  woman 
forth  from  the  home  of  the  old  days,  where, 
animated  with  a  common  interest,  they  labored 
together  and  spent  their  lives  in  loving  com- 
panionship. In  this  new  world  man  and 
woman  have  been  enticed  away  from  the 
bosom  of  nature,  where  they  had  so  long  en- 
joyed freedom  and  peace,  protection  and  unin- 
terrupted companionship,  and  they  are  caught 
up  in  the  vast  wheels  of  modern  industry, 
where  they  eat  the  bread  of  discontent.  Hus- 
band is  separated  from  wife,  child  from 
parent,  sister  from  brother,  and  each  and  all 
fill  out  the  weary  hours  of  toil  beneath  the  eye 
of  a  taskmaster  who  has  no  power  to  minister 
to  their  needs,  who  has  no  heart  of  mercy, 
who  has  no  care  for  their  soul's  salvation. 

'*In  the  social  confusion  resulting  from  the 
industrial  revolution  through  which  we  are 
passing,  men  and  women  sometimes  become 
bewildered   and   are    found   fighting   against 


280   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

their  own  best  interests,  regarding  themselves 
as  competitors  and  losing  sight  of  the  fact 
that  their  interests  must  forever  remain  in- 
separable. 

* 'Older  than  modern  civilization,  more  an- 
cient even  than  the  law  which  compels  man  to 
eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  is  the 
decree  of  the  Author  of  life  which  placed 
woman  by  man's  side  and  made  her  flesh  of 
his  flesh  and  bone  of  his  bone,  which  made  the 
twain  no  longer  two,  but  two  in  one  flesh. 

**The  industrial  progress  of  the  present 
generation  has  destroyed  the  industrial  home 
of  the  past,  where  husband  and  wife  labored 
and  loved  and  lived  their  own  childhood  and 
youth  over  again  in  the  children  that  grew  up 
about  them.  The  young  woman  of  to-day 
too  frequently  graduates  from  the  college  de- 
signed to  meet  man's  needs  with  a  defeminized 
ideal  of  home.  The  home  of  her  dreams 
throbs  with  intellectual  life  and  is  filled  with 
masculine  ambitions;  it  is  free  from  domestic 
cares  and  it  is  undisturbed  by  the  voices  of 
children.     But  it  is  not  good  for  man  to  be 


The  Homemakcrs  of  the  Future   281 

alone,  nor  for  woman  either;  the  life  of  each 
is  incomplete  without  the  other.  They  are 
complements  of  each  other,  not  duplicates. 
They  can  not  be  separated  and  live.  The 
deepest  law  of  their  natures  makes  their  in- 
terests identical  and  renders  it  forever  impos- 
sible for  them  to  be  rivals  or  competitors. 

**Man  and  woman  must  labor  together  in 
building  a  new  home  to  meet  the  conditions  of 
the  strange  new  world  in  which  they  find 
themselves.  The  home  of  the  past  was  indus- 
trial; the  home  of  the  future  must  be  cultural. 
The  new  organization  of  industry  has  resulted 
in  lengthened  hours  of  leisure  that  should  be 
spent  at  home  in  the  pursuit  of  the  things  of 
the  mind.  The  companionship  in  the  work  of 
their  hands  that  husband  and  wife  have  lost 
they  must  find  again  in  the  cultivation  of  their 
minds  and  hearts.  In  the  past  children  grew 
up  beneath  the  sheltering  roof  of  the  home; 
their  conduct  was  governed  throughout  life 
by  local  custom  and  family  tradition. 

"The  home  of  the  future  must  develop  high 
ideals  in  the  minds  of  the  children;  it  must 


282   The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

form  their  characters  in  such  strength  that,  at 
an  early  age,  they  will  be  able  to  face  alone 
all  the  wild  storms  of  temptation  and  passion. 
The  home  of  the  future  must  breathe  a  charm 
so  potent  that  it  will  gather  to  its  bosom  each 
evening  the  dispersed  and  weary  toilers  of  the 
day.  The  home  of  the  future  must  be  the 
sanctuary  of  life  and  the  dwelling-place  of 
love ;  the  mind  must  find  in  it  room  to  grow  in 
all  the  realms  of  truth  and  beauty;  its  atmos- 
phere must  be  that  of  refinement  and  culture; 
beauty  must  cover  it  with  her  mantle  and  cour- 
age must  protect  it  with  his  shield. 

**Man  is  tunneling  the  mountain  and  bridg- 
ing the  ocean;  he  is  ransacking  the  bowels  of 
the  earth  for  its  treasures ;  he  is  converting  the 
inaccessible  wildernesses  into  busy  marts  of 
trade ;  he  Is  banishing  the  thorn  from  the  cac- 
tus and  the  seed  from  the  grape  and  the 
orange.  But  woman  must  create  the  home  of 
the  future.  She  must  preserve  in  it  the  sacred 
fires  of  religion  and  culture.  Through  it  she 
must  save  man  from  materialism  and  from 
the  worship  of  the  golden  calf.     She  must 


The  Homemakers  of  the  Future  283 

build  a  home  in  which  he  will  find  rest  from 
his  toil,  consolation  in  his  sorrow,  strength 
to  battle  with  temptations,  courage  in  the 
midst  of  disaster,  and  companionship  in  the 
highest  aspirations  of  his  soul. 

**If  she  fails  in  this,  all  her  other  achieve- 
ments are  valueless.  It  will  profit  nothing  that 
she  should  explore  the  hitherto  undiscovered 
regions  of  natural  truth,  that  she  should  write 
books  or  paint  pictures,  that  she  should  help 
man  to  build  more  bridges,  or  to  construct 
more  high  buildings,  to  reclaim  desert  places, 
or  to  accumulate  more  millions. 

*^0f  what  value  are  all  these  things  without 
a  home  in  which  children  may  grow  in 
strength  and  beauty?  If  the  race  were  to  end 
with  this  generation,  ^think  you  we  should 
move  another  hand  ?  The  ships  would  rot  in 
the  harbors;  the  grain  would  rot  in  the 
ground;  should  we  paint  pictures,  write  books, 
make  music,  hemmed  in  by  that  onward 
creeping  sea  of  silence?'  What  doth  it  profit 
a  man  to  gain  the  whole  world  if  he  lose  his 
own  soul  ?' 


284    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

**What  education  shall  a  woman  receive  to 
enable  her  to  build  securely  a  home  that  will 
meet  the  present  social  and  economic  condi- 
tions? The  inadequacy  of  the  training  that 
fitted  her  for  the  home  of  the  past  is  at  once 
apparent.  The  lines  along  which  her  educa- 
tion shall  be  conducted  must  be  determined  by 
her  nature  and  by  the  work  that  awaits  her. 
She  must  be  enabled  to  retain  her  place  by 
man's  side  in  his  intellectual  development. 

**The  progress  of  science  that  has  so  trans- 
formed the  outer  world  must,  in  her  hands, 
bring  about  a  similar  transformation  in  the 
home.  Manual  labor  must  be  transformed 
and  lifted  to  a  higher  plane  by  a  knowledge 
of  domestic  science.  The  hours  that  are  thus 
saved  from  toil  must  be  spent  in  the  adorn- 
ment of  the  home,  in  the  pursuit  of  literature 
and  art,  and  in  the  wider  intellectual  and 
moral  interests  that  are  shaping  the  course  of 
advancing  civilization. 

*  Woman  must  understand  the  forces  that 
are  playing  upon  the  unfolding  lives  of  her 
children  and  the  environment  into  which  they 


The  Homemakers  of  the  Future  285 

must  enter  on  reaching  maturity  so  that  she 
may  wisely  preside  over  their  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  upbringing. 

**It  is  quite  evident  that  no  education  can 
be  too  high  or  too  good  for  woman.  But  her 
education  must  be  a  development  of  all  that 
is  best  in  her  own  nature.  An  attempt  to  mold 
her  into  the  likeness  of  man  must  always  fail, 
since  their  natures  differ  as  profoundly  as  does 
their  work  in  the  world.  All  such  attempts 
leave  undeveloped  in  woman  those  qualities  on 
which  her  real  success  depends. 

**It  is  true  that,  owing  to  present  economic 
conditions,  most  women  must  labor  for  some 
years  away  from  the  confines  of  home  before 
they  are  permitted  to  build  homes  of  their 
own.  But  even  here  woman's  work  and  woman's 
sphere  in  the  industrial  world  are  beginning 
to  be  sharply  defined.  Those  years  between 
school  days  and  marriage,  which  woman  is  so 
frequently  compelled  to  spend  in  the  school- 
room, the  office,  the  shop,  or  the  factory,  help 
to  give  her  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  outer 
world  which  will  serve  her  well  in  the  future 


286    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

by  enabling  her,  as  nothing  else  could  do,  to 
understand  the  cares  and  the  hardships  of  hus- 
band and  children  who  spend  their  days  in 
the  modern  industrial  arena. 

**What  schools  shall  undertake  the  educa- 
tion of  the  home-makers  of  the  future? 
Surely,  not  men's  colleges,  surely,  not  coedu- 
cational institutions,  whose  curricula,  whose 
spirit  and  methods  were  all  framed  in  view 
of  man's  nature  and  man's  needs.  Woman 
must  work  out  her  own  development. 
Women's  colleges  must  be  developed  along 
the  lines  demanded  by  woman's  nature  and 
woman's  work  in  the  world. 

**As  might  be  expected  from  her  history  in 
the  past,  the  Catholic  Church  will  be  the 
guide,  the  counselor,  and  the  unfailing  support 
of  woman  in  her  struggle  to  adjust  herself  to 
the  new  demands.  The  attitude  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church  toward  education  was  voiced 
by  his  Excellency,  Monsignor  Diomede  Fal 
conio,  the  Apostolic  Delegate,  in  his  address 
at  Mount  St.  Agnes  the  other  day.    He  said ; 

**  *The  Catholics  of  the  United  States  have 


The  Homemakers  of  the  Future  287 

recognized  the  important  fact  that  if  they  de- 
sire to  foster  in  the  souls  of  their  children  love 
and  veneration  for  their  holy  religion  and 
sentiments  of  respect  and  obedience  toward 
the  law  of  the  land,  they  must  have  their  chiU^ 
dren  educated  in  a  religious  atmosphere. 
Hence,  they  have  spared  no  sacrifice  in  order 
to  have  Catholic  schools  in  almost  every  par- 
ish and  in  every  locality  where  the  number  of 
Catholics  justified  the  erection  and  guaranteed 
the  support  of  a  Catholic  school. 

**  ^Besides  parochial  schools,  in  the  course 
of  time  a  great  number  of  colleges  and  acad- 
emies have  also  been  erected  for  the  superior 
education  of  youth.  Truly,  I  may  say  that  a 
colossal  work  has  been  accomplished  by  the 
Catholics  of  the  United  States  for  the  Chris- 
tian education  of  our  people;  a  work  which 
calls  for  admiration  and  which  deserves  our 
gratitude  and  our  encouragement.  .  .   . 

*'  Termit  me  to  observe  that  institutions 
for  higher  education  have  now  become  a 
necessity  in  order  to  complete  properly  and  to 
crown,  as  it  were,  the  vast  system  of  Catholic 


288     The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

education  which  was  so  providentially  estab- 
lished in  this  country.  For  we  must  under- 
stand it  to  be  of  the  highest  importance  that 
the  system  of  Christian  education  which  has 
been  introduced  in  the  elementary  schools  be 
progressively  continued  in  the  higher  classes 
in  the  academy,  the  college,  and  finally  in  the 
university,  in  order  that  Catholic  education 
may  be  productive  of  its  beneficial  influence 
in  all  its  fulness. 

**  ^Higher  education  will  prove  profitable 
not  only  to  men,  but  also  to  women.  Hence, 
we  cannot  restrict  superior  education  to  either 
sex,  since  it  is  by  its  very  nature  destined  to 
extend  its  powerful  influence  to  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  social  body — to  each  according  to 
his  capacity  and  condition  in  life.  As  regards 
the  superior  education  of  women,  I  beg  to  say 
that  the  philosophy  of  those  who  argue  that 
no  particular  attention  should  be  paid  to  their 
higher  education  is  erroneous  and  unjust. 
For  if  a  superior  education  is  useful  to  men, 
why  should  it  not  be  useful  to  women  also, 
since  they  are  endowed  with  the  same  nature 


The  Homemakers  of  the  Future  289 

and  the  same  capabilites  for  a  higher  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  betterment?  Nay,  taking 
into  consideration  the  great  influence  which 
woman  exerts,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  in 
every  state  of  life  and  position  in  society,  the 
necessity  of  her  education  must  be  acknowl- 
edged by  all  who  have  at  heart  the  welfare  of 
the  family  and  the  good  of  society.  A  wise 
writer  justly  observes  that  if  we  wish  to  know 
the  political  and  moral  condition  of  a  State, 
we  must  ask  what  rank  women  hold  in  it. 
Their  influence  embraces  the  whole  of 
life. 

**  *Be  on  your  guard,  therefore,  that  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  world  contrasted  with  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  convent  does  not  prove  fatal. 
Modern  society  is  rated  by  material  success, 
seduced  by  sensual  pleasure.  We  need  women 
of  strong  moral  character,  who  can  withstand 
the  seductions  that  flatter  the  senses.  We 
need  cultured  women,  whose  culture  does 
not  divorce  them  from  duty,  whose  life  is 
a  force  for  truth  and  an  example  for  all 
time' 


290    The  Education  of  Our  Girls 

"If  our  Catholic  women  are  to  retain  their 
sweetness  and  refinement,  they  must  be  edu- 
cated by  women  in  schools  for  women  and 
along  the  lines  demanded  by  woman's  nature. 
If  they  are  to  remain  faithful  children  of  the 
Church  and  models  of  civic  and  social  virtue 
to  the  women  of  the  nation,  their  education 
must  be  completed  in  distinctively  Catholic 
schools.  All  that  is  finest  and  sweetest  and 
noblest  in  woman  withers  and  dies  in  coedu- 
cational universities  from  which  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  saving  truths  of  His  Gospel  are  ban- 
ished. 

"But  if  our  sisterhoods  are  to  develop 
women's  colleges  and  help  to  solve  the  many 
pressing  problems  confronting  the  home- 
makers  of  the  future,  provision  must  be 
made  for  the  adequate  training  of  the  Sisters. 
Here,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity, there  will  arise  within  a  few  years  a 
Catholic  Teachers'  College  for  women,  to 
which  the  various  teaching  orders  will  send 
their  most  gifted  members  to  receive  the  high- 
est training  that  the  age  affords  and  to  carry 


The  Homemakers  of  the  Future  291 

back  with  them  to  their  several  communities  a 
knowledge  of  the  latest  developments  in 
science  and  of  the  most  approved  methods  of 
teaching." 


INDEX 


Addams,    Jane,    127,    178, 

180. 
Adjustment    of    school    to 

social  conditions,  127. 
American  woman,  the,  69, 

168,  170. 
Antonine,  Sister,  236. 

and      the     professional 

training  of  teachers, 

245-249. 
Apostolic     Delegate,     286- 

291. 
on  education  of  women, 

286. 
Associated   Charities,   175. 


B 

Bachelors  and  compulsory 

marriage,  188. 
Bachelor     Girl,     the,     186, 

187,  201,  204,  219. 
and  the  Old  Maid,  189, 

190. 
social    service    of,    203, 

204. 
Balmes  on  the  elevation  of 

woman,  142,  143. 


Catholic  parents  and  re- 
ligious vocations,  138, 

139. 

Catholic  students  at  non- 
Catholic  colleges,  248. 

Catholic  schools  and  the 
education  of  women, 
290. 


Catholic  schools,  efficiency 

of,   II. 
sacrifices  in  support  of, 

287. 
Catholic    University,    need 

of,  192-105. 
Teachers'     College     for 

women  at,  238,  290. 
and    the    unification    of 

Catholic  schools,  238. 
Correspondence   courses 

given  in,  249. 
Charity,  Sisters  of,  138,  139. 
organized,  175,  176. 
and  the  religious  orders, 

176. 
visitor,  173-176. 
Chicago  University,  18. 
Children,  47,  48. 

unlikeness  of,  47-54. 
development  of  natural 

traits  of,  48. 
coeducation  for,  59. 
Christ  and  the  elevation  of 

woman,  143,  144. 
Christianity,  and  the  voca- 
tion to  social  service, 

140. 
and  elevation  of  woman, 

141. 
Church,   the   Catholic,   and 

the      education      of 

woman,  170. 
and     differentiation     of 

social  functions,  160. 
and    the     elevation     of 

woman,  172. 
and  adjustment  to  social 

conditions,  174. 
and  education,  28i6,  287. 


294 


Index 


Claim,  the  social,  125. 

the  family,  157. 
Coeducation,  24,  25,  31,  33, 

46,  50,  251. 
experiment  in,   114,  125. 
Plato's    view    of,     115, 

121. 
and    social    adjustment, 

128. 
and    social    claim,    130, 

167. 
and  Christianity,  138. 
and    the    college    man, 

191. 
and  the  elective  system, 

252. 
losing   ground,   252-255. 
success     in     the     West, 

269,  270. 
and    marriage,    59,    ()T, 

72,  80,  83. 
and  divorce,  59. 
and   health,   40,   41,   42, 

different  views  concern- 
ing, 7- 
and  the  Catholic  parent, 

9. 
a     natural     institution, 

31. 
in    elementary    schools, 

57-59. 
the  failure  of,  d'j,  128. 
and    the   higher    educa- 
tion of  woman,   103, 
278-291. 
advantages  of,  8,  34,  35, 

.  36,  Z1.  59- 
disadvantages   of,   8,    9, 
94,  95,  221. 
College  for  women,  8,  251. 

graduate,  158. 
College  education  a  neces- 
sity to  woman,  42. 


College  education  and  mar- 
riage, Tz,  79,  216,  265. 
College  woman,  270-275. 
Competition     between     the 
sexes,    z^^    39,     102, 
107,     109,    III,    190, 
191,  195-98. 
Contention  and  discussion, 

178. 
Contrast,    principle    of,    in 
art,  55. 
m  nature,  47,  55,  56. 
in  life,  55- 
the    source    of    creative 

activity,  56. 
its  value  in  social  inter- 
course, 56,  57,  64. 
in  married  life,  57. 
necessary  to  intellectual 
activity    of    children, 
60,  63. 
and   the    law   of   imita- 
tion, 60. 
in  the  grading  of  school 
children,   54,    59,   60, 
61. 
,   among  men,  47. 
Convent    schools    and    the 
education  of  women, 
144. 
and     the     training     of 
home-builders,      185, 
231. 
Curtis,  W.  A.,  190,  197. 


D 

Development  of  the  sexes, 
81. 
and  struggle,  155. 
Development     of     women 
and  coeducational  in- 
stitutions, 172,  173, 
J       and  men's  colleges,  173. 


Index 


295 


Development  of  women  and 
the    Christian    relig- 
ion, 172,  173. 
Differentiation     of      social 
function,   160. 
and  progress,  121,  124. 
St.  Paul's  views  on,  131. 
Differentiation      of      the 
sexes,  265. 
progress  of  civilization, 
266. 
Divorce  and  late  marriage, 

Domestic  science,  its  place 
in  woman's  educa- 
tion, 211,  213,  219, 
220,  227,  261,  284. 

Domestic  service,  198. 

Dupanloup,  Mgr.,  and  the 
individuality  of  the 
pupil,  48. 


Early  marriage,  ^2,  74,  75, 

78,  82. 
and    higher     education, 

84,  86. 
Education,  the  aim  of,  46, 

94,  108,  120,  167,  203, 

207,  221. 
and  courtship,  (i'],  72. 
in  Germany,  84. 
in  America,  84. 
ideal  for  woman,  129. 
and  the  development  of 

vocations,    155,    162. 
and  social   service,   163, 

171. 
of   wives   and    mothers, 
186,  210,  229. 
Educational     methods,    re- 
adjustment   of,    no, 
126. 


Elective  system  and  coedu- 
cation, 252. 

Engelmann,  Dr.,  214. 

Ethical  standards,  the  clash 
of,  173. 


Falconio,  Mgr.  Diomede, 
on  education,  286. 

Family  claim  and  the  so- 
cial claim,  129,  157. 

Finck,  Dr.  Henry,  on  co- 
education, 252. 


Gibbons,    James    Cardinal, 

7-12,  46,  47. 
Goggin,  Catherine,  23. 
Gospel  of  Christ,  gospel  of 

mammon,  76,  113. 
Gospel    of    mammon,    and 

marriage,  72,  "jy. 
Grading     school     children, 

49,  52,  63. 
modification    of   present 

system,  65. 
and  social  laminae,  65. 


H 

Haley,  Margaret,  23,  178. 
Hall,  G.  Stanley,  216. 

and  coeducation,  262. 
Heredity  and  woman's  lack 

of  initiative,  29. 
Higher      education      of 
woman,  42,  288. 
and    marriage,    79,    97, 

208,  214,  217. 
and  man's  colleges,  171. 
Historical      argument     for 
coeducation,   126. 


296 


Index 


Home,  and  the  school,  50, 
158. 
solidarity  of,  78. 
dispersal    of    its    mem- 
bers, 78. 
and  the  factory,  225. 
of  the  past,  279. 
of  the  present,  278-280. 
of  the  future,  281-285. 
the  defeminized,  280. 
Home-makers    of    the    fu- 
ture, 276,  285. 
Huxley,  Thomas,  56,  154. 
Individuality   of  pupil,   64. 
Cardinal        G  i  b  b  o  n  s' 

view  of,  47. 
Dupanloup's     view     of. 


Imitation  in  mental  life  of 
children,  60. 
and  the  religious  dress, 
161. 


Jerome,  Jerome  K.,  57. 

Jesus  Christ  the  model 
teacher,  48. 

Jordan,  David  Starr,  on  co- 
education, 263,  269. 


Late  marriage,  72,  75. 
and  divorce,  74. 
and  the  gospel  of  mam- 
mon, 72. 
Law  of  progress,  98. 
Leadership,  the  penalty  of, 

100. 
Liberty,    the    child's    right 
to,  48. 


Life,  ideals  of,  70,  72. 

plastic  period  of,  7^,  78. 
Little  Sisters  of  the  roor, 
139. 

M 
Man  and  woman  allies,  102. 
opposed      to      woman's 

rights,  18. 
vanity  of,  27. 
in  literature,  71, 
in  art,  71. 
in  religion,  70. 
and   woman   not   dupli- 
cates, 94. 
selfishness  of,  161. 
conceit  of,  268. 
Manual  labor,  284. 
Marriage    and    the    higher 
education  of  woman, 
97. 
and  coeducation,  67,  80. 
failure  of  late,  ys- 
proper  age  for,  73. 
and  plasticity,  73-79. 
and   cultural   inequality, 
85,  87,  89. 
Meekins,  Lynn  R.,  the  pos- 
sibilities   of    woman, 
267. 
Merrick's  Chameleon,  105. 
Mixed  college  faculties,  51. 
Miinster,     University      of, 

237. 
attendance  of  Sisters  at, 

237- 
Miinsterberg,     Hugo,     69, 
128. 
the    American    woman, 
69. 

N 
Natural    law,    inviolability 
of,  34,  47. 


Index 


297 


Organization  and  social  r«- 
form,  i8i. 


Pace,  Dr,  E.  A.,  ideal  of 
the  college  woman, 
270-275. 

Patriotism,  development  of, 

153. 
Plato  on  coeducation,  115, 
121. 


Religion  and  social  service, 

161. 
Religious  orders  and  pov- 
erty,   177,    178,    181, 
182. 
Religious  garment,  161. 
Religious  teacher,  9,  10. 
ideal       instructors      of 

girls,  II. 
and  social  service,  152. 
equipment  of,  195. 
sacrifices,  233. 
difficulties  of,  234. 
professional  training  of, 

235-245. 
at  non-Catholic  univer- 
sities, 247. 
Rousseau  on  the  education 
of  women,  112. 


St.  Catherine's  College,  219. 

St.  Clara  College,  219,  256. 

St.  Elizabeth's  College, 
219. 

St.  Mary's  College,  219. 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul  So- 
cieties, 175. 


Savonarola,  164. 

School  and  the  home,  50, 
country  schools,  61-63. 
crowded  curriculum  of, 
214. 

School    children,    grading 
of,  52. 

Scudder,  Miss,  178,  180. 

Secular  schools,  deteriorat- 
ing influence  of,  144. 

Segregation,  18,  34,  40,  42, 

95. 
Sexes,     symmetry    in    the 

cultural  development 

of,  81. 
mutual       attractiveness 

of,  27. 
separation  of,  34. 
equality    of,    18-30,    37, 

100,  170,  193,  264. 
differences  between  the, 

43-46,  49,  104,  265. 
inequality  of,  85. 
companionship,   279-291. 
Sex  characteristics,  25,  29, 

31,  33,  43- 
Shahan,    Dr.    T.    J.,    133, 

141-143,  168-170. 
and      the      American 

woman,  168-170,  192. 
Sisters  of  Good  Shepherd, 

139. 
Holy  Cross,  179. 
St.  Francis,  139. 
Social  claim,  125,  131. 
vs.    family    claim,    129, 

157. 
recognition  by  the 
Church,  133. 
Social  intercourse  between 

the  sexes,  50. 
Social  service  and  the  re- 
ligious teacher,  160. 
and  religion,  161. 


298 


Index 


Sisterhoods  and  the  social 
claim,  168. 

the  vows  of,  176. 

and    the    formation    of 
character,  261. 
Symmetry   in   development 
of  individual,  90. 

in  development  of  so- 
ciety, 91. 

in  the  cultural  develop- 
ment of  the  sexes, 
91. 


Teachers,     religious,     147, 
152. 
public  school,  145,  152. 
training  of,  146. 
burdens  of,  148. 
vocation,  9. 
Jesus  Christ  the  Model, 

48. 
and  marriage,  159. 
Teaching  communities,  139. 
devotion  of,  10. 
and  Catholic  parents,  10. 
work   of    recognized    at 
Catholic    University, 
II. 
Teaching  communities,  ad- 
vantages of,  159. 
Training,     objective,     225, 
256. 
motor,  256,  257. 
manual,  257. 
of  future  home-makers, 
.  .  258. 
Trinity  College,  219. 
Trochilus    and    the    croco- 
dile, III. 


U 

University,  function  of,  71. 


University,    Catholic,     192, 
238,  249. 

Miinster,  2^^. 

Chicago,  18. 
Ursuline  rule,  255. 


Vanity  of  man,  27. 

of  woman,  27. 
Vocation  of  the  teacher,  9. 
cultivation    of,     11,    12, 

160. 
of  woman,  186. 
loyalty  to  spirit  of,  131. 
and     Catholic     parents, 

138. 
to    social    service,    140, 

153,   160. 
need  of,  149. 
and  divorce,  160. 
the   cultivation   of,   test 

of  school's  efficiency, 

162. 
to  religious  life,  181. 
meaning  of,  182. 
to  priesthood,  182. 
and    the    social    claim, 

183. 
and  coeducation,  184. 
and  home  duty,  264. 
motive  of,  208. 


W 

Wealth,  obligations  of,  150. 

debasing     influence     of, 
69,  11- 
Wife,  the  ideal,  107. 
Willard,  Frances,  23. 
Woman  in  literature,  22,  71. 

in  science,  22. 

in  medicine,  23. 

in  the  pulpit,  23. 


Index 


299 


Woman  in  social  reform,  23. 

education,  23. 

in  journalism,  22. 

the  ideal,  259,  261. 

the  new,  36. 

in     the     industries,     35, 
107,  127,  190,  199. 

in  the  Christian  Church, 
92,  133. 

in  Pagan  antiquity,  115- 
126. 

higher   education   of,   8, 
22,  24,  28,  180,  193. 

and  man  allies,  102. 

three  vocations  of,   186, 
202,  203,  206. 

at  the  bar,  22. 

in  college  faculties,  23. 

in  the  universities,  25. 

and  cheap  labor,  39. 

in  art,  71. 

in  charity  work,  71. 

in  Church  work,  71. 

and  Christian  marriage, 
92. 

and  the  penalty  of  lead- 
ership, lOI. 
Woman's    independence 
through       education, 
19,  28. 

capacity  for  higher  edu- 
cation, 19,  21,  24,  33. 


Woman's  lack  of  initiative 
due   to  heredity,   21, 
29,  30. 
new  sphere,  35,  103,  108, 

196-200. 
intellect,  21,  28,  29. 
Woman's  rights,  18. 
and  pedagogy,  20. 
and  sociology,  20. 
Woman's  suffrage,  18,  23. 
Women     the     friends     of 
Christ,  133,  134. 
in  Apostolic  times,  134- 

2>7- 

the      percentage      who 
marry,  253. 

progress  of,  263. 

and     human     advance- 
ment, 268,  269. 
Women's  college,  216. 

and     the     social     claim, 
168. 

of   the    future,    171-173, 
198,  219,  252,  255,268. 

and  social  reform,  179. 

at  Oxford,  237. 

imitating  man's  college, 
262. 

ideal  of,  270. 

Y 

Young,  Ella  Flagg,  23. 


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JUVENILES. 

An  Adventure  with  the  Apaches.     Ferry  o  45 

Armorer  of   Solingen.     Herchenbach.  o  45 

As  true  as  Gold.     Mannix.  o  45 

Berkleys,   The.     Wight.  o  45 

Bistouri.     Melandri.  o  45 

Black  Lady,  and  Robin  Red  Breast.  Schmid.                       o  25 

Blissylvania    Post-Office.     Taggart.  o  45 

Bob  o'    Link.     Waggaman.  •  45 

Boys  in   the   Block.     Egan.  •  35 


Bunt  and  Bill.    Mulholland.  o  45 

Buzzer's   Christmas.     Waggaman.  o  25 

By    Branscome  River.     Taggart.  o  45 

Cake   and  the   Easter   Eggs,     Schmid.  o  25 

Canary  Bird.     Schmid.  o  45 

Carroll   Dare.     Waggaman.  1  25 
Cave  by   the  Beech   Fork,   The.     Spalding,   S.J.      Cloth,     o  85 

The  Children  of  Cupa.     Mannix.  o  45 

Charlie    Chittywick.     Bearne,    S.J.  o  85 

College   Boy,   A.     Anthony  Yorke,     Cloth,  o  85 
Copus,   Rev.  J.  E.,   S.J. 

Harry  Russell.  o  85 

Shadows   Lifted.  o  85 

St.  Cuthbert's.  o  85 

Tom  Losely:  Boy.  o  85 

Daughter  of  Kings,  A.     Hinkson.  i  25 

Dimpling's    Success.     Clara    Mulholland.  o  45 

Double  Knot,  A,  and  Other  Stories.     Waggaman  and  Others. 

I     25 

Ethelred  Preston.     Finn,   S.J.  o  85 

Every-Day   Girl,  An.     Crowley.  o  45 

Fatal   Diamonds.     Donnelly.  o  25 

Finn,   Rev.   F.  J.,  SJ.: 

His  First  and  Last  Appearance.     Illustrated.  i  00 

That   Football   Game.  o  85 

The   Best  Foot  Forward.  o  85 

Ethelred  Preston.  o  85 

Claude  Lightfoot.  o  85 

Harry  Dee.  o  85 

Tom  Playfair.  o  85 

Percy  Wynn.  o  85 

Mostly  Boys.  o  85 

Five  O'Clock   Stories;  or.  The  Old  Tales  Told  Again.       o  75 

Flower  of  the   Flock,  The.     Egan.  o  85 

For  the   White   Rose.     Hinkson.  o  45 

Fred's  Little  Daughter.     Smith.  o  45 

Godfrey  the  Hermit.     Schmid.  o  25 

Golden   Lily,    The.   .Hinkson.  o  45 

Great    Captain,    The.     Hinkson.  o  45 

Haldeman    Children,   The.     Mannix.  o  45 

Harry  Dee;  or.  Working  It  Out.     Finn.  o  85 

Harry  Russell,   A  Rockland  College  Boy.  Copus,  S.J.     [Cuth- 

bert].  o  85 

Heir  of  Dreams,  An.     O'Malley.  o  45 

His  First  and  Last  Appearance.     Finn.  1  00 

Hop  Blossoms.     Schmid.  o  25 

Hostage  of  War,  A.     Bonesteel.  o  45 

How  They  Worked  Their  Way.     Egan.  o  75 

Inundation,  The.     Schmid.  o  45 

"  Jack."     By    a    Religious    of    the    Society  of    the    Holy    Child 

Jesus.  o  45 

Jack  Hildreth  Among  the  Indians.     2   vols.     Each,  o  85 

Jack  Hildreth  on  the  Nile.     Taggart.     Cloth,  o  85 

Jack  O'Lantern.     Waggaman.  o  45 

Juvenile    Round    Table.     First    Series.     Stories    by    the    Best 

Writers.  i  00 

Juvenile   Round   Table.     Second    Series.  i  00 


Juvenile  Round  Table.     Third  Series.  i  oo 

Klondike   Picnic.     Donnelly.  o  85 

Lamp   of   the    Sanctuary.     Wiseman.  o  25 
Legends  of  the  Holy   Child  Jesus  from  Many  Lands.     Lutz. 

o  75 
Little  Missy.  Waggaman.  o  45 
Loyal  Blue  and  Royal  Scarlet.  Taggart.  o  85 
Madcap  Set  at  St.  Anne's.  Brunowe.  o  45 
Mary  Tracy's  Fortune.  Sadlier  o  45 
Master  Fridolin.  Giehrl.  o  25 
MiLLY  Aveling.  Smith.  Cloth.  o  85 
More  Five  O'Clock  Stories  In  Prose  and  Verse.  By  a  Re- 
ligious of  the  Society  of  the  Holy  Child  Jesus.  o  75 
Mostly  Boys.  Finn.  o  85 
Mysterious  Doorway.  Sadlier.  o  45 
Mystery  of  Hornby  Hall.  Sadlier.  o  85 
My  Str\nge  Friend.  Finn.  o  25 
Nan  Nobody.  Waggaman.  o  45 
Old  Charlmont's  Seed-Bed.  Smith.  o  45 
Old  Robber's  Castle.  Schmid.  o  25 
One  Afternoon  and  Other  Stories.  Taggart.  i  25 
Our  Boys'  and  Girls'  Library.  14  vols.  Each.  o  25 
Overseer  of  Mahlbourg.  Schmid.  o  25 
Pancho  and  Panchita.  Mannix.  o  45 
Pauline  Archer.  Sadlier.  o  45 
Pickle  and  Pepper.  Dorsey.  o  85 
Playwater  Plot,  The.  Waggaman.  o  60 
Ridingdale  Boys,  The,  Bearne,  S.J.  2  volumes,  each,  o  85 
Queen's  Page.  Hinkson.  o  45 
The  Race  for  Copper  Island.  Spalding,  S.J.  o  85 
Recruit  Tommy  Collins.  Mary  G.  Bonesteel.  o  45 
Rose  Bush.  Schmid.  0  25 
Round  the  World.  Vol.  I.  Travels.  o  85 
Saint  Cuthbert's.  Copus,  S.J.  o  85 
Sea-Gull's  Rock.  Sandeau.  o  45 
Senior  Lieutenant's  Wager,  The.  30  Short  Stories.  i  25 
Shadows  Lifted.  Copus,  S.J.  0  85 
Sheriff  of  the  Beech  Fork,  The.  Spalding,  S.J.  0  85 
Spalding,  S.J. 

Cave  by  the  Beech  Fork.  o  85 

Sheriff  of  the  Beech  Fork,  The.  o  85 

The   Race  for   Copper  Island.  o  85 

Strong-Arm    of    Avalon.     Waggaman.  o  85 

Summer  at  Woodville.     Sallier.  o  45 
Tales  and  Legends  of  the  'Middle  Ages.     De  Cappella.     o  75 

Tales  and  Legends  Series.     3  vols.     Each,  o  75 

Talisman,  The.     Sadlier.  60 

Taming  of  Polly.     Dorsey.  o  85 

Three  Girls  and  Especially  One.     Taggart.  o  45 

Three  Little   Kings.     Giehrl.  o  25 

Tom's   Luckpot.     Waggaman.  o  45 

TOORALLADY.       Walsh.  O    45 

Trail    of    the    Dragon,    The,    and    Other    Stories.     By    Best 

Writers.  i  25 

Transplanting  of   Tessie,   The.     Waggaman.  o  60 

Treasure  of   Nugget  Mountain.     Taggart.  o  85 

Two  Little  Girls.    Mack.  o  45 


Violin  Maker,  The.     Smith.  o  45 

Wager  of  Gerald  O'Rourke,  The.     Finn-Thiele.  net,  o  35 

Wayward  Winnifred.     Sadlier.  o  85 
Where    the    Road    Led,    and    Other    Stories.     Sadlier,    and 

Others.  i  25 

WiNNETOU,  the  Apache  Knight.     Taggart.  o  85 

Wrongfully  Accused.     Herchenbach.  o  45 

Young   Color   Guard,    The.     Bonesteel.  o  45 

NOVELS  AND   STORIES. 

Carroll  Dare.     Waggaman.  1  25 

Circus   Rider's   Daughter,   The.     F.   v.   Brackel.  i  25 

Connor  D'Arcy's   Struggles.     Bertholds.  i  25 

Corinne's   Vow.     Waggaman.  i  25 

Dion  and  the  Sibyls.     A  Classic  Novel.     Keon.     Cloth,       i  25 
Dollar  Hunt,    The.     Martin.  o  45 

Fabiola.      By    Cardinal   Wiseman.     Popular    Illustrated    Edition, 

0  99 
Fabiola's  Sisters.  Clarke.  i  25 
Fatal  Beacon,  The.  By  F.  v.  Brackel,  i  25 
Hearts  of  Gold.  Edhor.  i  25 
Heiress  of  Cronenstein,  The.  Countess  Hahn-Hahn.  i  25 
Her  Blind  Folly.  Holt.  i  25 
Her  Father's  Daughter.  Hinkson.  net,  i  25 
Idols;  or,  The  Secret  of  the  Rue  Chaussee  d'Antin.     De  Navery. 

1  25 
In  the  Days  of  King  Hal.  Taggart.  net,  1  25 
"  Kind  Hearts  and  Coronets."  Harrison.  i  25 
Let  No  Man  Put  Asunder.  Marie.  i  00 
Linked  Lives.  Douglas.  i  5» 
Marcella  Grace.  Mulholland.  Illustrated  Edition,  i  25 
Miss  Erin.  Francis.  i  25 
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